Thursday's Stock Market Close: Nasdaq Crosses 9,000 Level On Year-End Santa Claus Rally

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday on moderate volume as traders cheered the strength of the American consumer and on rising optimism that the U.S. and China will sign a trade deal soon. Traders are hoping a "Santa Claus rally lasts the rest of the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 106.28 points to a record 28,621.73 while the S&P 500 climbed 16.59 points to 3,239.97 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 69.51 points to 9,022.39, crossing the 9,000-level for the first time.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 1.67 billion shares with 1,688 issues advancing, 166 setting new highs, and 1,241 declining, with seven setting new lows.

Active movers were led by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), NIO Inc. (NIO) and Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. (PTI)

Amazon (AMZN) surged nearly 4.5% to drive the Nasdaq into record territory after the online retailer said its holiday shopping season broke all records.

“Stocks look like they just won't quit. The rally is for real,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG, said Thursday. “The economy’s engines continue to hum.”

A spokesman for the Chinese Commerce Ministry said early Thursday China and the U.S. are in close communication on signing the initial phase of a trade deal.

U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, for Nov. 1 through Christmas Eve climbed by 3.4% from a year ago, preliminary data from Mastercard SpendingPulse indicated. Online sales rose 18.8% in that period, compared with only a 1.2% increase for in-store sales.

“Good news on the trade front as Trump said the trade deal will be signed at the White House, coupled with 2019 holiday retail sales rising 3.4% better than last year, will likely keep the bulls fully in charge,” wrote Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

“The consumer continues to be shown as the supporting pillar,” said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer at Exencial Wealth Advisors. “They’re continuing to spend and they’re not cutting back.”

The Labor Department said Thursday initial jobless claims fell 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted figure of 222,000 for the week ended Dec. 21. Economists had forecast claims would drop to 224,000.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said mortgage application volume fell by 5.3% last week over the previous week as mortgage interest rates approached 4%.

Globally, Japan’s Nikkei-225 rose 0.6% and China’s Shanghai Composite climbed 0.85%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng market was closed for the holiday, as were European markets.

Crude oil futures rose 0.92% at $61.67 per barrel and Brent crude slipped 0.04% at $66.73. Gold futures gained 0.76%.

The euro gained 0.09% at $1.1101 while the pound sterling rose 0.36% at $1.3.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell 0.26% to 1.905% while yield on the 30-year Treasury slipped 0.09% to 2.337%.