As Wall Street entered the Christmas break on a high note, US stocks broke additional records on Wednesday. With a rise of 0.6%, or almost 300 points, to close at a new record high, the blue chip-focused Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led the way up.
In the meantime, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.3% to record close for the second time in a row. A little less than 0.2% was gained by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC).
For Christmas Eve, markets closed early on Wednesday and are closed on Thursday. With the major indexes rising for the fifth straight day, Wall Street's push for a "Santa Claus" rally, which usually includes the final five trading days of December and the first two of January, seemed promising.
Despite fresh economic data that only served to reduce chances for rate reduction from the Federal Reserve in the near future, Wall Street has advanced during the last several sessions.
According to the government's initial estimate, US GDP growth in the third quarter was 4.3%, far more than anticipated as consumer spending continued throughout the summer.
However, investors reduced their bets on a January rate cut from the Fed as a result of the GDP statistics; only slightly more than 13% currently anticipate that result.
Even though Jerome Powell will be replaced by a new chair by the middle of the year, the divisions that characterized the central bank this year are expected to continue, thus most traders still anticipate two rate cuts by the end of next year.
Unemployment claims decreased for the second consecutive week, according to statistics released on Wednesday, giving investors another indication that the economy is ostensibly heading in the right way even as consumer confidence continues to decline.
Gold (GC=F) reached an all-time high above $4,500 an ounce on Wednesday before reducing gains, as precious metals continued to surge.
While platinum (PL=F) reversed and lost more than 3%, silver (SI=F) also reached a record. After a spike over the previous few days, oil (BZ=F, CL=F) stabilized. On the day following rumors that Nvidia (NVDA) had halted a test utilizing Intel's breakthrough chip fabrication process, Intel (INTC) was able to reduce losses to about 0.5%.
