US close: Santa Claus rally kicks into gear in shortened session

Tech stocks pushed markets higher in a shortened session on Tuesday as traders headed into the Christmas break in a bullish mood, continuing to hunt for bargains following last week's dramatic sell-off.

The Dow rose for the fourth straight day to finish 0.9% higher, with just three of its 30 constituents finishing in the red. The gains follow the index's longest losing streak in half a century (10 days) which came to an end last week.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq meanwhile jumped 1.1% and 1.4% respectively, marking their third day in the black. Both indices have nearly offset the recent sell-off and are now trading close to record highs once again.

Tech giants like Tesla, Amazon, Alphabet, Apple and Meta Platforms were providing a big boost, as the Santa Claus rally started with a bang. Broadcom continued its recent surge, rising 3.2% to lift its December performance to +46%.

Even American Airlines was inching higher despite a technical issue temporarily grounded its flights.

The New York Stock Exchange closed up shop early at 1300 ET and will reopen on Thursday for another half-day session, before resuming trading as normal on Friday.

With no major economic data or corporate earnings released during the session, investors were still digesting Monday's barrage of economic data, which showed that US durable-goods orders, new home sales and consumer confidence were all lower than expectations.

"This bag of bad news helped tempering the latest hawkish shift in Fed expectations. As such, the buyers are out and buying," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Last week, the Fed scaled back expectations for the number – and scale – of interest-rate reductions in 2025, with just two cuts now priced into markets compared with four previously.

Dow Jones - Risers

Walmart Inc. (WMT) $92.60 2.49%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $582.79 2.10%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $242.31 1.64%
American Express Co. (AXP) $303.46 1.56%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $59.84 1.46%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $258.20 1.15%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $224.41 1.12%
Visa Inc. (V) $320.62 1.07%
3M Co. (MMM) $130.36 1.07%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $112.56 1.04%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $9.19 -1.18%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $39.83 -0.29%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $505.06 -0.25%

S&P 500 - Risers

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $239.68 3.15%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $213.50 2.86%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $89.91 2.82%
Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA) $24.73 2.78%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $92.60 2.49%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $14.41 2.49%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $932.12 2.27%
Halliburton Co. (HAL) $26.84 2.21%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $582.79 2.10%
Morgan Stanley (MS) $127.06 2.10%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Dxc Technology Company (DXC) $20.50 -2.10%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $9.19 -1.18%
Celanese Corp. (CE) $68.40 -1.16%
VF Corp. (VFC) $21.86 -0.75%
Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $122.91 -0.70%
Brown Forman Corp. Class B (BF.B) $39.88 -0.70%
Leggett & Platt Inc. (LEG) $9.72 -0.61%
Teleflex Inc. (TFX) $177.18 -0.60%
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG) $28.34 -0.56%
CIGNA Corp. (CI) $280.06 -0.56%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Tesla Inc (TSLA) $462.25 7.35%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $239.68 3.15%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $213.50 2.86%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $89.91 2.82%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $932.12 2.27%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $537.02 1.86%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $229.05 1.77%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $88.25 1.55%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $500.16 1.54%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $218.09 1.49%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.35 -1.23%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $9.19 -1.18%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $72.31 -0.97%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $89.28 -0.49%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $73.38 -0.47%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $88.05 -0.46%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $149.02 -0.24%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $18.91 -0.24%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $719.71 -0.18%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $92.22 -0.16%