Benzinga - by Piero Cingari, Benzinga Staff Writer.
Wall Street is navigating another quiet session characterized by low trading volumes in the post-holiday period. The S&P 500 index continues its gradual ascent toward retesting its all-time highs, edging up by just 0.1% as of midday trading in New York.
The Nasdaq 100 is mirroring this performance while achieving a significant milestone, boasting a 55% gain since the beginning of the year. This marks its best-performing year since 1999.
Blue-chip stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% higher. Small-cap stocks, on the other hand, are taking a breather. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) is down 0.3% after enjoying a 14% rise since the start of the month.
On the data front, weekly jobless claims have increased from 206,000 to 218,000, slightly surpassing the expected figure of 210,000.
Treasury yields have seen minor upticks of approximately 3 basis points across the yield curve. This modest increase has interrupted the fixed-income rally, causing the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) to decline by 0.6%.
Gold has remained relatively stable, priced at $2,075 per ounce, while crude oil, tracked by the United States Oil Fund (NYSE:USO), has fallen by 1%.
In the crypto domain, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) suffers a 2.3% decline. This drop followed the news that Cathie Wood decided to offload her remaining shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), valued at around $200 million. Her move comes ahead of the highly anticipated approval of a Bitcoin ETF in January.
Thursday’s Performance In US Major Indices, ETFs
| Dow Jones | 37,714.17 | +57.65 | 0.1% |
| S&P 500 | 4,788.32 | +6.74 | 0.1% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 16,921.52 | +14.72 | 0.1% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,062.25 | -0.57 | -0.3% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) is 0.1% higher to $477.04, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA) is 0.1% higher to $377.01 and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is holding steady at $412, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Sector-wise, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) outperforms, up by 0.5%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) lags behind, down 0.8%.
Among industries, the Invesco Solar ETF (NYSE:TAN) gains 1%, while the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) falls 1.5%.
Thursday’s Stock Movers
- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) rises 2.5%, leading gains among large-cap tech.
- Crypto-related stocks had a mixed reaction to the Bitcoin’s decline: Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) holds steady, Bit Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:BTBT) rises 1.8%, while Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) fall 4% and 7%, respectively.
- Penn Entertainment (NYSE:PENN) rallies 7%, after leading shareholder hedge fund HG Vora Capital Management has sought the authority to nominate members to the company’s board of directors.
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