[New York Stock Market] Slight Rise Ahead of Holiday... Dow Up 0.53%

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] Major indices of the U.S. New York stock market closed slightly higher on the 23rd (local time) amid a sharp drop in trading volume ahead of the Christmas holiday.

On this day at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 33,203.93, up 176.44 points (0.53%) from the previous session. The large-cap S&P 500 index rose 22.43 points (0.59%) to 3,844.82, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed at 10,497.86, up 21.74 points (0.21%).

All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 index rose. Energy, utilities, and communication stocks showed notable rallies. Energy-related stocks jumped more than 3% thanks to rising oil prices. Among individual stocks, Tesla fell 1.76% despite CEO Elon Musk’s announcement that he would not sell shares for two years. Alphabet, Google's parent company, rose 1.68% after the NFL announced that the 'Sunday Ticket' subscription package would be offered on YouTube.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Investors closely watched economic indicators such as the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, favored by the Federal Reserve (Fed), ahead of the holiday. November PCE rose 5.5% year-on-year, marking the smallest increase since October last year. The core PCE, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, also rose 4.7% year-on-year in November, slowing from the previous month’s 5.0% increase. However, it slightly exceeded market expectations (4.6%), causing Treasury yields to surge early in the session and putting downward pressure on stocks.

Market opinions on the PCE data vary, with some saying it will not significantly affect the Fed’s future rate hike path, while others see it as a sign of inflation persistence. Dan Greenhaus, Chief Strategist at Solus Alternative Asset Management, told CNBC, "From the perspective of the overall market and economy, nothing will change next year," adding, "The trend continuing as is, is the trend."

Concerns about a recession, which led to the December downturn, persist. November durable goods orders in the U.S. fell 2.1% from the previous month, missing market expectations. Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. economy, increased by only 0.1% from the previous month, significantly slowing from the prior month’s 0.9% (revised). However, the University of Michigan’s December consumer sentiment index improved to 59.7, above the preliminary estimate of 59.1% and higher than November’s 56.8.

The New York financial market will be closed on the 26th to observe the Christmas holiday. Ahead of the holiday, trading volume sharply decreased again on this day, with the market fluctuating between gains and losses. Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist at CFRA Research, said, "Pre-holiday trading tends to have lower volume and higher volatility than usual," and predicted that this trend could continue next week due to the lack of catalysts to change the trend.

This week, the Dow index rose 0.86%. In contrast, despite the gains on this day, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices ended the week in decline, marking their third consecutive week of losses. The Nasdaq index’s weekly drop reached 1.94%.

International oil prices rose as Russia indicated it might cut production in response to the West’s price cap. On this day at the New York Mercantile Exchange, the February WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil contract closed at $79.56 per barrel, up $2.07 (2.67%) from the previous session. This is the highest closing price since December 2.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.