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SANTA 1: GRINCH 0
Wall Street's main indexes advanced on Tuesday, as gains in a handful of megacap and growth stocks bolstered benchmarks in a truncated trading session before Christmas.
With this, Tuesday kicked off the first day of the seven-day stretch known as the "Santa Clause rally". The S&P 500 index .SPX on average has gained 1.3% in the last five days of December and first two days of January, according to data from the Stock Trader's Almanac going back to 1969.
The SPX closed up 1.1% on Tuesday. The benchmark index is now up 26.6% YTD.
All S&P 500 sectors rose with consumer discretionary .SPLRCD, up more than 2.5%, scoring the biggest rise. Financials .SPSY, tech .SPLRCT, and communication services .SPLRCL all posted more than 1% gains. This as FANGs .NYFANG, big banks .SPXBK and chips .SOX rallied.
Of note, major banks and business groups sued the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, alleging the U.S. central bank's annual "stress tests" of Wall Street firms violate the law.
The S&P 100 .OEX and S&P 500 tech sector both ended at a record closing high.
U.S. markets are closed Wednesday for the Christmas holiday.
Here is a snapshot from just a few minutes after 1:00 p.m. ET:
(Terence Gabriel)
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FOR TUESDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:
LPL RESEARCH EXPECTS STOCKS TO POST MODEST GAINS IN 2025 - CLICK HERE
U.S. 10-YEAR TREASURY YIELD - 2025's EQUITY BOGEY MAN? - CLICK HERE
INVESTORS AWAIT TO SEE IF SANTA WILL STUFF THEIR STOCKINGS - CLICK HERE
IGNORE MARKET BREADTH AT YOUR OWN PERIL - CLICK HERE
STOXX UP, NO XMAS CHEER FOR UK HOMEBUILDERS CLICK HERE
EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FESTIVE TRADING CLICK HERE