The S&P 500 rode thin trading volume on Tuesday to mark its 38th record close of the year. The Santa Claus rally period is on deck.
The market benchmark rose nearly 0.5% to top its Dec. 11 closing high. The Dow rose 82 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq rose 0.6%.
The Santa Claus rally period, which takes place during the final five trading days and the first two of a new year, begins tomorrow. The major indexes all rise more than 70% of the time during this period.
New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq volume were both well below their year-to-date averages through 3 p.m., according to Dow Jones Market Data. The NYSE was at its lowest 3 p.m. volume since Jan. 3.
Stocks initially traded sideways and bond yields rose after the BEA said GDP growth rose at a 4.3% annual rate, which was well above expectations. Things settled down as the session rolled on.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note was up to 3.53%. The 10-year yield was down to 4.17%.
The CBOE Volatility index fell to its lowest level of the year, below 14. Any reading below 20 is considered relatively low volatility in markets.
“Just a few weeks after it fell to a 10-week low amid concerns about the AI trade, the S&P 500 is knocking on the door of a new record close—and tech is leading the way,” wrote Daniel Skelly, head of Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Market Research and Strategy Team, earlier in the afternoon. |
Nvidia was among the S&P 500’s top stocks, along with Broadcom.
“There’s going to be more bumps in this road, but there’s also good reason to believe the trends driving the economy—AI investment and high-end consumer spending—will continue in 2026, and that the market can continue to follow earnings growth to the upside,” Skelly writes.