Dow rises modestly in reduced Christmas Eve trading for holidays

• The Russell 2000 RUT Index,
  -0.42%
  closed 17.22 points, or 0.9%, finishing at a record 2,007.10.

• The Dow closed 114.32 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 30,129.83.

• The S&P 500 index finished 2.75 points, or 0.1%, higher to close at 3,690.01, achieving a 3-session slide.

• The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 36.80 points, or 0.3%, to close at 12,771.11.

What is driving the market?

Markets remain set to complete the coronavirus aid package and government funding legislation passed Monday by Congress after President Donald Trump expressed his unhappiness.

On Wednesday, Trump, who has asked lawmakers to increase direct payments to qualified people to $ 2,000, from $ 600, also vetoed a $ 740.5 billion defense policy bill.

However, Thursday morning, Republicans in the House challenged the president and blocked a bill tabled by Democrats that would have sent $ 2,000 checks to people as part of the coronavirus financial aid package.

Thursday’s trade also begins a period of US equities, known as the Santa Claus Rally, which has historically been good for stocks, producing an average gain of 1.3% during the stretch. according to Ryan Detrick’s research at LPL Financial.

Although the market remains obsessed with concerns about the spread of coronavirus, despite the distribution of vaccines. An increase in COVID deaths and hospitalizations has removed the brilliance of reaching what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called an “early but important” milestone for more than a million vaccinated people.

In fact, new daily cases of Covid-19 in the U.S. rose to 227,522 on Wednesday, from 201,674 on Tuesday, according to data provided by the New York Times. The death toll rose from 3,423 to 3,411, marking the second worst day since the pandemic began. Hospitalizations grew 1,702 to a record 119,463 on Wednesday, according to the COVID follow-up project.

Meanwhile, UK and EU officials on Thursday announced a trade deal on Brexit after months of protracted negotiations and the end of years of uncertainty over how a post-Brexit relationship between the two sides could materialize. Now the agreement must be ratified by the British and European parliaments.

Investors say the deal will not be a significant catalyst for U.S. markets, but that it eliminates a headwind for investors amid a plethora of virus and virus-related concerns.

Read: UK ETFs jump when Brexit deal ends

“Investors continue to seek confirmation that a US spending support / COVID trade agreement and a UK-EU trade agreement could be completed by the end of the year,” wrote market strategist Colin Cieszynski head of SIA Wealth Management, in an investigation Thursday note.

These political disputes come as the UK announced tightening measures to block COVID, with several regions set on Saturday at the level of tougher level 4 restrictions, as the country struggles to limit a variant of the virus that causes Covid- 19, which is said to be more transmissible.

What actions are focused on?

Actions of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group
BABA,
-14.77%
they concentrated amid reports that Chinese regulators conducted an antitrust investigation on Thursday. Shares traded in the U.S. fell nearly 13.7% in early Thursday stock.

Actions of Cloudera Inc.
CLDR,
-0.27%
could be focused after the company said Wednesday afternoon it bought everything back Intel Corp..’s INTC,
+ 0.53%
participation of the company for $ 314 million. Shares of Cloudera fell 0.8%, while Intel rose 0.2%.

Software vendor actions SolarWinds Corp.
SWI,
-1.69%
said Thursday that it has released updates in response to the “SUPERNOVA” malware that was used to hack U.S. government computer systems. Its shares fell 2%.

How are other assets traded?

• In Asian trade, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP,
  -0.57%
  closed 0.6% lower on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 NIK,
  + 0.54%
  the index rose 0.5%, while the Hong Kong HSI Hang Seng Index,
  + 0.16%
  closed by 0.2%.

• In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Europe SXXP,
  + 0.12%
  was 0.2% higher, while the UKX FTSE 100 index in London,
  + 0.10%
  gained 0.1%.

• The 10-year Treasury note generates TMUBMUSD10Y,
  0.940%
  threw 1.7 basis points to 0.94%. Yields and prices are moving in opposite directions.

• Oil futures fell, with US benchmark CL.1
  -0.33%
  they were trading at 33 cents, up 0.7%, at $ 47.82 a barrel, on the New York Stock Exchange, with the contract threatening to stop weekly rises to seven.

• Gold futures for February delivery GC00,
  + 0.24%
  fell 0.2% to $ 1,875.30 / oz.

• An indicator of the US dollar, the ICE US Dollar DXY index,
  -0.11%,
  fell 0.2% to 90,243.