Stocks rose on Thursday with lower trading volumes ahead of the holiday break on Friday. Traders looked beyond new stalling developments to Congress's $900 billion stimulus package, betting on Washington lawmakers fully reaching a deal before the year's end.
Thursday starts the "Santa Claus rally," which is the last five trading days of December and the first two of January when stocks tend to increase on a wave of optimism heading into the new year. This year's Santa Claus rally is likely, but could be harmed from extended delays to the signing of additional stimulus and rising coronavirus concerns.
Here's how the market closed out the shortened holiday week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.37% or +13.75 points to 3,703.76
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.24% or +71.42 points to 30,201.25
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.26% or +33.62 points to 12,804.73
For Stocks, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) shares sinking over 13% on Thursday on news that the Chinese ecommerce giant is facing an antitrust investigation by the Chinese government. Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA) shares continued to slide following the end of its partnership with Republic Services (NYSE: RSG).
For Sector Performance, only Energy (NYSE: XLE) closed in negative territory as the broader market edged higher during the shorter trading session. Real Estate (NYSE: XLRE), Information Technology (NYSE: XLK), Utilities (NYSE: XLU) and Materials (NYSE: XLB) all rose over 0.50% on Thursday.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) fell slightly lower on Thursday as risk appetite soared following news that Britain and the European Union had signed a post-Brexit trade deal. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, slipped to 90.256 as the sterling gained. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices moved higher as the U.S. dollar remained low. Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,877.41 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.2% higher at $1,882.10 per ounce. Crude oil futures ended mixed on Thursday amid light trading volumes as post-Brexit optimism outweighed growing coronavirus concerns. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) edged lower to $51.01 per barrel, while domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) rose 0.3% to $47.96 each.
For Friday, U.S. markets will be closed in observance of the Christmas holiday. Markets will open for normal trading hours on Monday.