Seems like Saint Nick is feeling a bit better on this third trading day of the Santa Clause rally period and has delivered a gift to Wall Street via the rise in jobless claims.  Investors are doing some bottom fishing today on severely beaten down names, especially in Technology. Growth is in vogue with Tesla (TSLA) +7%, Netflix (NFLX) +6% (got a double upgrade from CFRA), Meta (Meta) +4%, Apple (AAPL) +3%, and Alphabet 3%.

Nasdaq is the best performing sector up 2.7%, the S&P500 up 1.9% and the Dow 1.2%. The VIX, volatility/fear index, is down almost 3% to 21.50. 

All eleven S&P 500 sectors are in the green with Communication Services leading the pack.

Advancers are exceeding decliners, and the up volume is blowing away the down, but the new 52 week lows are still problematic.

Treasuries remain inverted with the 2-year rising today to 4.365% and the 10-year declining to 3.83%.  The dollar is down slightly and WTI is continuing to drop, -1.4% to $77.85 per barrel.

Investors are a bit less fearful today, and at about the same levels from the prior week, but way up from just a month ago.

Fear & Greed Index

Tomorrow is the last trading day of the year, and the bond market will close early.  Let’s see if we can build on the rally before putting cash to work.