U.S. Stock Indexes Trade Higher and Treasury Yields Hold Steady

Barry Adams
26 Dec, 2023
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street advanced in a holiday-shortened week of thin trading.

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite extended their eight-week rally as trading for the final week began.

Stocks have been rallying for the last eight weeks in a row after inflation continued to drift lower over the last nine months and economic growth stayed above 2%, giving room to the Federal Reserve to engineer a soft landing.

Investors are hoping that the Fed will pause a rate hike at the end of its first policy meeting on January 31, 2024.

However, central bankers have pushed back against the rate-cut scenario over the last two weeks, but market indexes have continued to advance.

 

U.S. Indexes and Yields

The S&P 500 index gained 0.1% to 4,762.36, and the Nasdaq Composite increased 0.3% to 15,037.67.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes increased to 4.37%, 10-year Treasury notes inched higher to 3.90%, and 30-year Treasury bonds eased to 4.05%.

WTI crude oil increased $1.70 to $75.25 a barrel, and natural gas prices increased 1 cent to $2.53 a thermal unit.

Gold advanced $5.96 to $2,058.98 an ounce and extended this year's gains to 13.5%.

The dollar index, which weighs the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, edged lower to 101.67.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

RayzBio Inc. jumped 100% to $61.30 after Bristol Myers Squibb said it agreed to acquire the radiopharmaceutical therapeutics for $62.50 a share, or $4.1 billion.

Gracell Biotechnology Inc. soared 60% to $9.92 after Astra Zeneca said it would acquire the China-based cell therapy company for $10 per share, or $1.2 billion.

Intel Corporation gained 2.2% to $49.05 after the advanced semiconductor chipmaker received $3.2 billion from the Israeli government to build a $25 billion plant in southern Israel.

Manchester United PLC increased 1.3% to $20.10 after UK investor Jim Ratcliffe finalized his agreement to acquire a 25% stake in the football club for $33 a share.