(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* S&P 500 set for over 15% annual gain
* Weekly jobless claims fall for second straight week
* Dow up 0.22%, S&P 500 up 0.18%, Nasdaq down 0.13%
(Updates to mid-afternoon changes byline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were poised to end
a tumultuous year mixed, leaving the three major U.S. equity
indexes with solid-to-spectacular yearly gains despite the
economy being upended by the COVID-19 virus as investors looked
towards a post-pandemic world.
In a year that marked the end of the longest bull market on
record as government lockdowns enacted because of the pandemic
battered the global economy, equities stormed back, with the S&P
500 climbing more than 66% from its March 23 low, resulting in
the shortest bear market on in history. The gains, which have left the three major averages near
record highs hit earlier this week, were fueled in part by
massive fiscal and monetary stimulus put in place to buttress
the economy reeling from the coronavirus fallout, as well as
progress on a vaccine.
For the year, the S&P 500 is up more than 15%, the Dow more
than 6% and the Nasdaq about 43%, which would mark the biggest
yearly gain for the tech-heavy index since 2009.
"Unless there's a big news item, traders and investors are
happy with a 15% year for the S&P 500. The vaccine rollout is
coming along that's a positive that's being offset by surging
coronavirus cases," said Oliver Pursche, president of Bronson
Meadows Capital Management in Fairfield, Connecticut.
"I'm optimistic for 2021 in terms of equity returns. We
could see another double-digit year for the S&P, which would
make it an unbelievable four-year run."
Still, data on Thursday was a reminder the economy still has
a long way to recover as weekly initial jobless claims, while
declining for a second straight week to 787,000, remained well
above the peak of the 2007-2009 Great Recession. Tech .SPLRCT and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD are set
to be the best performing sectors on the year, while energy, a
laggard for the past decade, was once again on track to be the
weakest of the 11 major S&P sectors on the year and log its
worst yearly performance ever.
Mega-cap names such as Amazon AMZN.O and Apple .AAPL.O
helped lift the broad S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, as well as gains
in names that have benefited from the "stay-at-home"
environment, such as online retailer ETSY Inc ETSY.O and
digital payment platform PayPal PYPL.O .
On the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
65.68 points, or 0.22%, to 30,475.24, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
6.62 points, or 0.18%, to 3,738.66 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 16.16 points, or 0.13%, to 12,853.85.
Near-term expectations of bigger stimulus checks dimmed
after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a quick
vote on Wednesday to back President Donald Trump's call to
increase COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000 from $600.
Risk assets were able to build on the rally off the March
low rallied in November following a U.S. election that investors
viewed as likely to result in political gridlock and optimism
around vaccines rollouts grew, but the momentum stalled on
worries over fresh fiscal stimulus and a new, highly infectious
COVID-19 variant spreading globally. All eyes are on two U.S. Senate races in Georgia next week
that will determine control of the chamber and influence
Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's ability to enact his
agenda. Trading volumes were light and have dwindled as the week
moves closer to New Year's Eve and the markets will remain
closed on Friday for the holiday.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.27-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.22-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 105 new highs and 19 new lows.