Health care leads stocks spike in preholiday trading

NEW YORK — Wall Street traders sometimes root for year-end “Santa Claus rallies,” but Friday, hardly a creature was stirring as stocks finished slightly higher on the quietest full day of trading in more than a year.

Health care companies brought in most of the gains.

Major U.S. indexes stayed in a narrow range throughout the day. Drugmakers and other companies in health care did the best, and retailers continued to take small losses just before the holiday. Energy companies also slipped, and they took their first weekly loss since the beginning of November. The Dow Jones industrial average, however, rose for the seventh week in a row.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin fell after President-elect Donald Trump again tweeted that the company’s F-35 fighter jet costs too much. The stock is down almost 6 percent this month.

“This is a negotiating tactic,” said Josh Sullivan, a Seaport Global analyst who covers aerospace and defense companies. “You’re seeing the negative portion of the negotiation in public where privately they may be more constructive.”

The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 14.93 points, or 0.1 percent, to 19,933.81. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 2.83 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,263.79. The Nasdaq composite rose 15.27 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,462.69.

Small-company stocks did far better, as the Russell 2000 climbed 8.85 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,371.51.

Fewer than 2 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. That’s barely half the volume of an average day. The last full trading day with that little activity was in October 2015.

Lockheed Martin fell after Trump said on Twitter that Lockheed’s F-35 fighter jet costs too much and that he has asked Boeing to “price-out” a comparable F-18 jet. Trump complained earlier this month about the costs of the F-35, which brought in about 20 percent of Lockheed’s revenue last year. Lockheed gave up $3.21, or 1.3 percent, to $249.59.

This month Trump also criticized Boeing for the cost of the next Air Force One.

AP/FILE The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 14.93 points, or 0.1 percent, to 19,933.81 Friday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 2.83 points, to 2,263.79.