Stock market today: Stocks edge higher on Wall Street in muted trading
Stocks rose on Wall Street on what is expected to be another quiet day between the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The S&The P500 rose 0.2% in early trading on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63 points, or 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.1%. Markets have managed to hold on to slight gains so far, and the S&The P 500 is hovering just below its all-time high set in January 2022. The benchmark index is having its eighth winning week in a row and is up more than 24% this year.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.
Future for the S&The P500 was essentially unchanged before the bell Thursday, while futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose nearly 0.3%.
Trading was subdued in the last trading week of the year. The S&The P 500 is having its eighth winning week in a row and is hovering just below its all-time high in January 2022.
Market-moving US economic updates are lacking in the last week of 2023. Later Thursday, the government will release data on layoffs in its weekly unemployment benefits report.
Overall, investors are encouraged by financial data showing that inflation is easing and the economy appears stronger than expected. The Fed is walking a tightrope, trying to slow the economy enough through higher interest rates to cool inflation, but not so much that it pushes the country into a recession.
Recent data raises hopes that the economy can avoid a significant recession. Wall Street is betting that the Fed is done raising rates and will likely cut rates in the new year. The central bank has held rates steady since its July meeting, and Wall Street expects it will start cutting rates as early as March.
In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1% around midday and Germany's DAX lost 0.2%. The CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.4%.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was an outlier in Asia, losing 0.4% to 33,539.62. Speculation over whether and when the Bank of Japan could ease its long-standing lax monetary policy and raise its key interest rate from minus 0.1% has roiled stocks in the world's third-largest economy.
BOJ policymakers are waiting to see what kind of wage increases could come in 2024 as part of the central bank's strategy to keep lending easy, in a bid to stimulate stronger growth.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 2.5% to 17,043.53 on heavy buying of technology and real estate shares. Thursday's gains put the stock down about 8% this year as China's economy has sputtered despite the country's reopening after relaxing COVID-19 precautions.
Shares of e-commerce giant Alibaba rose 2.8% even after a New York court refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the company by a US company, Kelly Toys Holdings, for allegedly selling counterfeit versions of Squishmallow -cuddly toys.
The Shanghai Composite index rose 1.4% to 2,954.70.
South Korea's Kospi rose 1.6% to 2,655.28 and the S&Australia's P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 7,614.30.
India's Sensex rose 0.4% and Bangkok's SET also rose 0.4%.
In other trading Thursday, benchmark U.S. crude lost $1.03 to $73.04 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the price fell by $1.46.
Brent crude, the international standard, lost 96 cents to $78.58 a barrel.
The US dollar fell from 141.84 yen to 140.82 Japanese yen. Expectations for a change in the BOJ's stance have given the yen renewed strength, while hopes for an easing in US yields have weakened the dollar, which is trading at its lowest level against the yen since July.
The euro rose from $1.1106 to $1.1117.
On Wednesday the S&The P500 rose 0.1%. It's up 24% this year. The Dow Jones rose 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. It has outpaced other major indexes with a 44% gain this year.