Stocks rise on Wall Street ahead of Christmas holiday

Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street Wednesday, adding to the market’s gains this week ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The S&P 500 rose 1 percent after coming back from an early slide. The other indexes also recovered after sliding into the red in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq closed 1.2 percent higher. The Russell 2000, a measure of small-company stocks, rose 0.9 percent.

Every major U.S. index is still on track for weekly gains after a choppy several days where stocks bounced between sharp losses and solid gains.

“We’ve had strength yesterday and today, so the markets are generally positive this week following a fair amount of pressure last week,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

The S&P 500 rose 47.33 points to 4,696.56. The index is within 0.4 percent of the all-time high it set Dec. 10.

The Dow gained 261.19 points to 35,753.89, while the Nasdaq rose 180.81 points to 15,521.89. The Russell 2000 gained 18.96 points to 2,221.90.

The latest surge in coronavirus cases because of the omicron variant has been hanging over markets, along with concerns about rising inflation and its impact on economic growth.

“The market is a little uncertain about that (omicron), but seems somewhat convinced that it isn’t going to turn into another lockdown,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Even so, the uncertainty over the latest variant’s impact on the economy is likely to cause more stock market swings.

“Clearly, the pace of economic recovery is being held hostage by omicron, and that’s resulting in increased volatility,” Sandven said. “By our metric, volatility is likely to be more the norm versus the exception, and for good reason.”

Nearly 80 percent of companies in the S&P 500 rose Wednesday. Retailers and other companies that rely on consumer spending accounted for a big share of the gains. They rose following the encouraging consumer confidence report.

Tesla jumped 7.5 percent for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after CEO Elon Musk reportedly said he sold enough stock to reach his goal of selling 10 percent of his stake in the electric vehicle maker.