Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Wall Street closes with a modest gains on Brexit deal, stimulus hopes

Published 12/24/2020, 07:22 AM
Updated 12/24/2020, 01:30 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Charging Bull or Wall Street Bull is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Charging Bull or Wall Street Bull is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The S&P 500 ended higher at the close of a shortened session on Thursday as investors headed into the long Christmas weekend with hopes that an imminent stimulus agreement, a Brexit deal, and the ongoing vaccine rollout will spell brighter days in the coming year.

All three major U.S. stock indexes ended in positive territory.

For the holiday-shortened week, the S&P 500 edged lower, the Dow eked out a nominal gain and the Nasdaq advanced.

While stocks tend to perform well in the closing days of December, a phenomenon known as the Santa Claus rally, the resurgent pandemic and upcoming Senate runoffs in Georgia have clouded the outlook this year.

The U.S. House of Representatives blocked President Donald Trump's attempt to change a $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government spending package after Trump insisted on $2,000 direct payments to Americans.

The move cast doubt as to whether the package passed by Congress on Monday would be signed into law and raised the threat of a partial government shutdown.

"If (stimulus) doesn't get passed in some form or another it could mean severe consequences for the unemployed," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

Britain reached a trade deal with the European Union after months of negotiations, just days before leaving one of the world's largest trading blocs.

"(The Brexit deal) might be acting as a buffer for the market in the sense that it's counteracting the negativity of the stimulus bill being stalled," Cardillo added.

More than one million Americans have now been vaccinated against COVID-19 even as the pandemic continues to rage in the United States and political leaders moved to guard against a more contagious variant of the disease sweeping across Britain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70.04 points, or 0.23%, to 30,199.87, the S&P 500 gained 13.05 points, or 0.35%, to 3,703.06 and the Nasdaq Composite added 33.62 points, or 0.26%, to 12,804.73.

Ten Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 posted gains, led by real estate. Energy was the lone loser.

Shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group dropped 13.3% on news that China had launched an investigation into the company as part of its antitrust crackdown.

American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) Group Inc said it was moving forward with plans to recall furloughed workers, even as forthcoming payroll protections, part of the stimulus package, was called into doubt. Its shares dipped 1.4%

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Inc said that it expects its coronavirus vaccine to be effective against a new variant of the disease discovered in Britain. Even so, its shares closed down 5.3%.

Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) Inc slipped 9.3% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a clinical hold on the company's application to begin human testing of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, AdCOVID.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.53-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.08-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 7 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 138 new highs and 5 new lows.

© Reuters. NYSE building in New York City

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.14 billion shares, compared with the 11.30 billion average over the last 20 trading days.

Latest comments

It is hardly a Santa Claus rally, mostly because marked rallied up well before the Santa appeared. As of now, sideways market digests gains and looks for direction. Which one? It will be settled in January.
What “recovery”? Lol
buy or sell nasdaq?
I'm holding on. The stimulus deal is weak. NASDAQ should continue on upward trajectory. But that's my money. You've got to follow your gut.
Wait A Minute. Algos must be drunk on Nog! Up and Away! Bad news/Good news!!
The AI market just sits there! Algos won't sell, even though we just found out that $2,000 is no go and Trump isn't going to sign.
why do you think so? I was about to sell the NASDAQ only to realize it wasn't going down.
You have to trade the trend. Everytime we get bad news regarding the stimulus, DOW falls, NASDAQ climbs. My comment was that overall, the whole market should be tumbling a couple hundred on the stimulus news, but ALGOS hold it up.
Futures is flat you !!!mo???rons!!
Anything that is related to China!! Full of disappointment.
likely,,,,,,, 🐻
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.