Wall Street started the Santa Rally season on a positive note, with all major indices and sectors closing higher in a shortened session ahead of the Christmas holidays.
The S&P 500 climbed 1%, extending its gains for a third straight session after last week’s volatile Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 1.3%, nearly erasing last week’s losses.
Consumer discretionary stocks, the year’s best-performing sector, led the rally on light trading volumes. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 7.35%, marking its strongest single-day performance since November.
Other notable performers in the S&P 500 included Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX), and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), up 2.4%, 2.8% and 2.5% respectively.
The US dollar index posted modest gains, with the dollar hovering near a one-year high against the euro. Government bond yields remained stable, with the 10-year benchmark at 4.6%, the highest level since May.
Among commodities, gold rose 0.4%, while oil rose 0.7%.
Risk appetite returned to the cryptocurrency market after recent volatility Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) rose 4% to over $98,000. This rally boosted crypto-related stocks, including Microstrategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR), MARA Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), and Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), all of which posted notable gains.
|
Important indexes |
Price |
1-day %chg |
|
Nasdaq100 |
21,771.80 |
1.3% |
|
S&P500 |
6,032.64 |
1.0% |
|
Russell 2000 |
2,254.99 |
0.8% |
|
Dow Jones |
43,239.42 |
0.8% |
Updated at 1:00 PM ET
According to Benzinga Pro facts:
-
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose 1.1% to $601.01.
-
The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.8% to $432.44.
-
The tech heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 1.3% to $529.94.
-
The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 1% to $223.46.
-
The Discretionary Select Sector SPDR fund for consumers (NYSE:XLY) outperformed, up 2.3%; the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) lagged behind, up 0.5%.
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