In a holiday-shortened trading session ahead of Christmas, technology stocks led a broad rally on Wall Street Tuesday.
The S&P 500 saw its third consecutive gain, up 1.1 per cent. Both the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 1.3 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively.
Although the market was pushed higher by big tech firms like Apple, Amazon, and chip manufacturer Nvidia, the gains were felt by many. The ratio of advancers to decliners on the New York Stock Exchange was more than three to one.
S&P 500
The broader representation of the US market, the S&P 500 was overjoyed with positive sentiments on Christmas Eve for upcoming new after recent moves in the index saw close to worst week in year and trump bump which instigated the index to touch new life high levels for more than once.
S&P 500 opened in hopes of christmas gifts and mood of celebration, bulls and positive festive sentiments propelled the index to open with 0.17 per cent in the positive territory; the index went on to touch the day high level 6,040.10 points after hitting the opening bell at the 5,984.63 points. The index concluded the last session before Christmas with a jump of 1.10 per cent amounting to 65.97 points.
Nasdaq Compsite
The tech heavy weights were the vital players in the rally that led the market to close on the day highs with a good positive mometum. The trading session on the christmas eve day was filled with positive sentiments and hopes about good moves in upcoming year.
The index of the tech giants including members of magnificient seven packs went on to touch the day high level of 20,031.13 points after hitting the opening bell at 19,818.48 points., with a 0.27 per cent upside from the closing level of previous tradinga session. The index concluded with a 1.35 per cent surge amounting to 266.24 points at 20,031.13 level.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The oldest index in the US markets also followed suit of the other two marquee indices; Dow Jones traded closer to the previous closing level of 42,906.95 point for the opening hour; then resumed the upward move in the christmas eve trading session.
The Dow Jones zoomed to day high level of 43,297.65 points after hitting the opening bell at 42,916.48 with a tiny surge of 0.02 per cent at opening bell level. The Dow Jones concluded the trading session before Christmas with 091 per cent amounting to a 390.08 points on the US markets.
Santa Rally
The U.S. market surge on Tuesday coincides with the start of what has traditionally been a very positive season for the stock market. Since 1950, the final five trading days of each year, along with the first two of the following year, have produced an average gain of 1.3 per cent. Additionally, the so-called ‘Santa rally’ is strongly associated with gains in January and the following year.
Since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on election day, which sparked expectations of quicker economic growth and more lenient regulations that would increase corporate profits, the U.S. stock market has lost some of its gains so far this month.
Concerns have grown that Trump’s inclination for tariffs and other policies may result in increased inflation, a larger national debt, and challenges for international trade.
