London, Monday, 27 December 2021
With the Irish and UK markets closed for the holidays, European stocks ended the day higher, while US shares advanced for a fourth day in a row.
After a lengthy Christmas break, major US market indices gained on Monday, as traders remained optimistic that the new flu outbreak would not disrupt economic development.
The Dow gained 352 points, remaining within 0.4 percent of its all-time high, the S&P 500 gained 1.4 percent, extending gains to a new all-time high, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4 percent, reaching its highest level since mid-November.
Over the weekend, coronavirus infections skyrocketed over the world, with France reporting a daily record of more than 100,000 new cases. Market participants are weighing economic forecasts amid the spread of the new omicron type and central banks' increased hawkishness in reaction to rising inflation as the region's equities have had a rocky finish to the year. With barely a few sessions left in the year, Europe's major index is up 22% in 2021, and only 1% off its all-time high.
The S&P 500's gains were led by megacap stocks, with Microsoft and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, among the best performances. Tesla is on track to have its best four-day rise since March.
After hundreds of flights were postponed over Christmas owing to a spike in Covid-19 infections, travel stocks underperformed, though they recovered some of their losses. President Joe Biden's top medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, has expressed support for making domestic fights need vaccines.
According to strategists at JPMorgan Chase and Co, there is no reason to believe that the surge that has propelled US stocks to new highs this year will come to a stop anytime soon. In fact, it's possible that it will get even broader.
U.S. Stock Market Indexes
S&P 500: +65.55 (+1.39%) to 4,791.34
Nasdaq: +217.89 (+1.39%) to 15,871.26
Dow Jones: +352.21 (+0.98%) to 36,302.77
European Stock Market Indexes
STOXX Europe 600: +2.98 points, or 0.62%, to close at 485.49
FTSE 100 in London: CLOSED
DAX 30 in Germany: +78 points, or 0.5%, to close at 15,835
CAC 40 in France: +53 points, or 0.76%, to 7,140
FTSE MIB 30 in Italy: the best performer of the day, +214 points, or 0.8%, to close at 27,231
IBEX 35 in Spain: +58 points, or 0.68%, to finish at 8,622
Other markets
Ten-year U.S. Treasury note: -1.2 bps to yield 1.4810%
Dollar index: -0.03 or -0.03% at 96.07 as of Dec 27, 2021 7:45 p.m. EST
VIX volatility index: +2.72 (9.73%) at 30.67 as of Dec 3, 3:15 PM CST
Oil prices
Brent crude: +0.09 or +0.11% at $78.69 per barrel as of Dec 28, 2021 1:28 a.m. GMT
West Texas Intermediate: +0.30 or + 0.40% at 75.90 per barrel as of Dec 27, 2021 at 8:35 p.m. EST
Precious metals
Gold: +2.75 or +0.15% at 1,810.31 an ounce
Silver: +0.16 or +0.70% at 23.02 an ounce
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin: −910.20 (1.79%) at $49,807.50 as of Dec 28, 1:44 AM UTC
Ethereum: −56.67 (1.40%) at $3,981.99 as of Dec 28, 1:44 AM UTC
(Written and edited by: The Decision Maker)
