The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 30,303.37 on Thursday with a gain of 148.83 points or 0.49%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,722.48 for a gain of 21.31 points or 0.58%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 12,764.75 for a gain of 106.56 points or 0.84%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 21.93 for a loss of 0.57 points or -2.53%.
Thursday's market movers
U.S. indexes closed with gains Thursday. Investors are expecting Moderna's (MRNA, Financial) Covid-19 vaccine to be approved, adding to supply from Pfizer (PFE). Moderna gained 5.09% for the day. The Nasdaq Biotech Index also led the day's sector gains, up 1.43%.
In other news:
- Robinhood will pay $65 million in a Securities and Exchange Commission settlement.
- Coinbase plans to file for an initial public offering.
- Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage market survey showed falling mortgage rates. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.67%, down from 2.71%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.21%, down from 2.26%.
- New residential construction data was released. Building permits increased 6.2% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.639 million. Housing starts increased 1.2% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.547 million.
- 885,000 Americans filed for jobless claims, down from 862,000. Continuing jobless claims were 5.508 million, down from 5.781 million.
- The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index decreased to 11.1 in December from 26.3.
- The Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index decreased to 12 from 20.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 0.075% and eight-week bills at a rate of 0.080%.
Across the board:
- Lennar Corp. (LEN, Financial) +7.62%
- SharpSpring (SHSP, Financial) +11.92%
- Eloxx Pharmaceuticals (ELOX, Financial) +30.03%
- Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG, Financial)(GOOGL, Financial) face ad issue lawsuits.
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,978.05 for a gain of 25.32 points or 1.30%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,116.74 for a gain of 11.21 points or 1.01%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 13,737.03 for a gain of 214.77 points or 1.59%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 9,043.37 for a gain of 47.38 points or 0.53%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,297.91 for a gain of 19.02 points or 0.83%; the S&P 100 at 1,703.80 for a gain of 7.54 points or 0.44%; the Nasdaq 100 at 12,752.06 for a gain of 83.90 points or 0.66%; the Russell 3000 at 2,232.17 for a gain of 17.00 points or 0.77%; the Russell 1000 at 2,104.23 for a gain of 15.27 points or 0.73%; the Wilshire 5000 at 38,917.17 for a gain of 271.32 points or 0.70%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 686.70 for a gain of 0.27 points or 0.039%.
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