S&P Closes at Record High Ahead of Christmas

A shortened week that began with a big slide on Monday wrapped up with the major indexes in positive territory. The Dow rose 196 points on Thursday to 35,950, the S&P rose 29 points to 4,725, and the tech-centric Nasdaq rose 131 points to 15,653. For the benchmark S&P, that is a record-high close. The AP notes that markets are closed on Friday in celebration of Christmas. CNBC credits the turnaround from Monday in part to easing fears about omicron. “Much of the stock market’s rally this week is due to overdone fears last week and a palpable sigh of relief the selling finally stopped,” says Jim Paulsen of Leuthold Group. “Once the market turned higher, dip-buyers not wanting to miss out on a Santa Rally have taken charge.” (More stock market stories.)