Wall Street kicked off the Santa Rally season on a positive note, with all major indices and sectors closing higher in a shortened session ahead of the Christmas holiday.
The S&P 500 climbed 1%, extending its gains for a third consecutive session following last week’s volatile Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 1.3%, nearly erasing last week’s losses.
Consumer discretionary stocks, the top-performing sector of the year, led the rally amid light trading volumes. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) surged 7.35%, marking its strongest single-day performance since November.
Other standout performers in the S&P 500 included Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX), and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), up 2.4%, 2.8% and 2.5% respectively.
The U.S. dollar index posted modest gains, with the greenback hovering near over one-year highs against the euro. Treasury yields remained stable, with the 10-year benchmark at 4.6%, the highest level since May.
In commodities, gold edged up 0.4%, while oil prices rose 0.7%.
Risk appetite returned to the cryptocurrency market following recent volatility, as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) jumped 4% to over $98,000. This rally buoyed crypto-related stocks, including Microstrategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR), MARA Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), and Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), all posting notable gains.
|
Major Indices |
Price |
1-day %chg |
|
Nasdaq 100 |
21,771.80 |
1.3% |
|
S&P 500 |
6,032.64 |
1.0% |
|
Russell 2000 |
2,254.99 |
0.8% |
|
Dow Jones |
43,239.42 |
0.8% |
Updated at 1:00 p.m. ET
According to Benzinga Pro data:
-
The 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) rallied 1.3% to $529.94.
-
The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 1% to $223.46.
-
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) outperformed, up by 2.3%; the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) lagged, up 0.5%.
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