NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended higher on a close session on Thursday as investors headed into the long Christmas weekend in hopes of an impending stimulus deal, an agreement on the Brexit and the ongoing deployment of vaccines will mean brighter days next year.
The top three U.S. stock indices ended in positive territory.
During the reduced holiday week, the S&P 500 fell, the Dow earned a nominal gain and the Nasdaq advanced.
While stocks tend to perform well in late December, a phenomenon known as the Santa Claus rally, the resurgence of the pandemic, and the upcoming Senate runoff in Georgia have clouded this year’s outlook.
The U.S. House of Representatives blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to change the $ 2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government spending package after Trump insisted on direct payments of $ 2,000 to the North. Americans.
The move called into question whether the package passed by Congress on Monday would be signed into law and increased the threat of partial government unemployment.
“If (the stimulus) is not approved in one way or another, it could mean serious consequences for the unemployed,” said Peter Cardillo, chief economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
Britain reached a trade deal with the European Union after months of negotiations, just days before abandoning one of the world’s largest trading blocs.
“(The Brexit deal) could be acting as a buffer for the market in the sense that it counteracts the negativity of the stimulus bill that is stalled,” Cardillo added.
Now more than a million Americans have been vaccinated against COVID-19, even as the pandemic continues to rage in the United States and political leaders have tried to protect themselves from a more contagious variant of the disease than crosses 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 add 33.62 points, or 0.26%, to 12,804.73.
Ten of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 made profits, led by real estate. Energy was the only loser.
Shares of the Alibaba group fell 13.3% on news that China had launched an investigation into the company as part of its antitrust crackdown.
American Airlines Group Inc. said it was moving forward with plans to remind salaried workers, even when the upcoming payroll protections, which are part of the stimulus package, were questioned. Its shares fell 1.4%
Moderna Inc. said it hopes its coronavirus vaccine will be effective against a new variant of the disease discovered in Britain. However, its shares closed up 5.3%.
Altimmune Inc. fell 9.3% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a clinical review of the company’s request to begin human testing of its COVID-19 vaccine, a single dose unique, AdCOVID.
Advanced issues outperformed declining negatives on the NYSE by a ratio of 1.53 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.08 to 1 favored declines.
The S&P 500 recorded 7 new highs of 52 weeks and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 138 new highs and 5 new lows.
The volume of US stock exchanges was 6.14 million shares, compared to the average of 11.30 trillion in the last 20 trading days.
Reports by Stephen Culp; Edited by Aurora Ellis