NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended above at the close of a short session on Thursday as investors headed into the long Christmas weekend, hoping an imminent stimulus deal, a Brexit deal and the ongoing launch of vaccines will have brighter times in the coming year.
All three major US stock indices ended in positive territory.
For the shorter holiday week, the S&P 500 fell, the Dow made 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 Rally, the revived pandemic and future leaks in the Georgia Senate have clouded this year’s outlook.
The U.S. House of Representatives has blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to change the $ 2.3 trillion coronavirus aid package and government spending after Trump insisted on $ 2,000 direct payments to Americans.
The measure questioned whether the package approved by Congress on Monday would be signed into law and raised the threat of partial government closure.
“If (the stimulus) doesn’t go one way or another, it could have serious consequences for the unemployed,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
The UK reached a trade agreement with the European Union after months of negotiations, just days before leaving one of the largest trading blocs in the world.
“(The Brexit agreement) could act as a buffer for the market in the sense that it counteracts the negativity of the stimulus bill that is blocked,” Cardillo added.
More than a million Americans have now been vaccinated against COVID-19, even as the pandemic continues to erupt in the United States and political leaders have moved to protect themselves from a more contagious variant of the disease that plagues 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 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 earnings, driven by real estate. Energy was the only one lost.
Alibaba Group shares fell 13.3% on news that China has launched an investigation into the company as part of its antitrust crackdown.
American Airlines Group Inc. said it is moving forward with plans to lay off workers who have been hired, even though future wage protections, which are part of the incentive package, have been called into question. Its shares fell 1.4%
Moderna Inc. said it expects its coronavirus vaccine to be effective against a new variant of the disease discovered in the UK. Even so, its shares closed at 5.3%.
Altimmune Inc. fell 9.3 percent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a clinical ruling on the company’s request to begin human testing of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, AdCOVID.
Advanced issues outperformed the low number on the NYSE by a 1.53-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, a 1.08 to 1 ratio favored declines.
The S&P 500 recorded 7 new highs of 52 weeks and no new lows; Nasdaq Composite recorded 138 new highs and 5 new lows.
The volume of US stock markets was 6.14 billion shares, compared to the average of 11.30 billion in the last 20 trading days.
Reporting by Stephen Culp; Montages of Aurora Ellis