LIVE MARKETS-Santa 1, Bears 0

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SANTA 1, BEARS 0

The official start of the Santa Claus Rally period on Wednesday kicked off with the S&P 500 .SPX scoring a win.

The rally period refers to the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of the new year. This year, the rally officially started on Wednesday, December 24 and the period ends on the close of trading on Monday, January 5.

Indeed, in a shortened Christmas Eve session, the S&P 500 gained 0.3%, rose for a fifth-straight day, and ended at a record close for the 39th time this year.

The Dow .DJI and Nasdaq Composite .IXIC also rose for a fifth day in a row. The three main indexes last rose five days in a row in late November.

The Dow also eked out a record closing high. The blue-chip average has now seen 19 record closing highs in 2025.

Among other indexes ending at fresh record closing highs were the S&P 500 Financial .SPSY and Industrial .SPLRCI sectors, the S&P 500 Banks Index .SPXBK, the NYSE Composite .NYA, the large-cap Russell 1000 .RUI, the Nasdaq Biotech Index .NBI, and the S&P 500 Value Index .IVX.

Despite its gain, the Nasdaq Composite ended down 1.44% from its October 29 record close.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is on pace to rise for an eighth month in a row. The benchmark index last rose more than seven straight months with a 10-month stretch of gains that ended in January 2018.

The SPX is now up about 18% year-to-date, and on track to rise for a third-straight quarter and a third-straight year.

U.S. markets are closed Thursday for the Christmas holiday.

Here is Wednesday's closing snapshot:

(Terence Gabriel)

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