Wall Street got off to a strong start to the Santa Rally season, with all major indexes and sectors closing higher in abbreviated trading ahead of the Christmas holiday.
The S&P 500 rose 1%, extending gains for the third straight session following last week’s volatile Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 1.3%, nearly erasing last week’s losses.
The gains were led by consumer discretionary stocks, which have been the best performers this year amid light trading volumes. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) soared 7.35%, posting its strongest single-day performance since November.
Other standout performers in the S&P 500 include Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Starbucks Inc. (NASDAQ:SBUX), and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), up 2.4%, 2.8%, and 2.5%, respectively. It has risen.
The U.S. dollar index recorded a modest increase, with the dollar hovering near its highest level against the euro in more than a year. U.S. Treasury yields were steady, with the 10-year yield at 4.6%, its highest level since May.
Among commodities, gold rose 0.4% and crude oil prices rose 0.7%.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) rose 4% to over $98,000 as risk appetite returned to the crypto market following recent volatility. This rally led to gains in crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy, Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR), MARA Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), and Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), all of which posted notable gains. .
Major index
price
1 day %chg
Nasdaq 100
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 data from Benzinga Pro:
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.
Consumer Discretionary Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) outperformed, rising 2.3%. Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) was a laggard, rising 0.5%.
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