· Stocks climbed Thursday, hitting record highs as the market rallied into the end of 2019.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 105.94 points, or 0.37%, to 28,621.39, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.51% to 3,239.91. The Nasdaq Composite finished the day 0.78% higher at 9,022.39, topping the 9,000 mark for the first time ever. Three major averages all hit new all-time highs. Amazon led the gains, jumping more than 4% after the e-commerce giant said the holiday shopping season broke all records. Trading volumes remained thin this week.
The S&P 500 notched its 34th record close Thursday. The benchmark has risen 3.1% this month and 8.8% this quarter, bringing the year-to-date gains to 29.2%. The S&P 500 has a good chance at scoring a historic year: It is now less than 1 percentage point from posting the best annual performance since 1997.
Markets in Europe, Australia and Hong Kong remained closed Thursday for the holiday. Trading volumes were muted in the U.S. with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) trading about 24 million shares Thursday, well below its 30-day volume average of 60 million shares.
· Stocks in Asia traded mixed Friday morning as shares on Wall Street jumped to new record highs overnight stateside.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was largely unchanged in early trade while the Topix index added 0.18%. In South Korea, the Kospi slipped 0.61% as shares of Hyundai Motor fell more than 1.5%.
Japanese retail sales data for November released earlier on Friday came in worse than expected. Retail sales declined 2.1% in November as compared with a year earlier, government data showed. That was below a median market forecast for a 1.7% decline, according to Reuters. The data follows a sales tax hike that went into effect in October.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia rose in morning trade as they returned from the holidays, with the S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.13%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan was largely unchanged.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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