Wall Street closed higher and reached more records Wednesday on a holiday-shortened trading day.
- The S&P 500 index rose 22.26 points, or 0.3%, to 6,932.05.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 288.75, or 0.6%, to close at 48,731.16.
- The Nasdaq composite added 51.46, or 0.2%, to 23,613.31
Trading was extremely light as markets closed early for Christmas Eve and will be closed for Christmas. Roughly 1.8 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, which is roughly a third of the average trading day, the
AP reports. Markets will reopen for a full day of trading on Friday; however volumes are expected to be remain light this week as most investors having closed out their positions for the year.
Dynavax Technologies soared 38.2% after Sanofi said it was acquiring the California-based vaccine maker in a deal worth $2.2 billion. The French drugmaker will add Dynavax's hepatitis B vaccines to its portfolio, as well as a shingles vaccine that is still in development. Novo Nordisk's shares rose 1.8% after the weight-loss drug company got approval from US regulators for a pill version of its blockbuster drug Wegovy. However, Novo Nordisk shares are still down almost 40% this year as the company has faced increased competition for weight-loss medications, particularly from Eli Lilly. Shares of Eli Lilly are up 40% this year.
The S&P 500 is up more than 17% this year, as investors have embraced the deregulatory policies of the Trump administration and been optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence in helping boost profits for not only technology companies but also for Corporate America. Some of the strongest performers this year include Nvidia and Micron Technologies, both companies that make chips or other components that power the proliferation of data centers across the country.
Much of the focus for investors for the next few weeks will be on where the US economy is heading and where the Federal Reserve will move interest rates. Investors are betting the Fed will hold steady on interest rates at its January meeting. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week and remains at historically healthy levels despite some signs that the labor market is weakening. US applications for jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 20 fell by 10,000 to 214,000 from the previous week's 224,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. That's below the 232,000 new applications forecast of analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.
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