NEW YORK -- Stocks closed slightly higher on Christmas Eve, as investors went into the holiday weekend not bothered by President Donald Trump's threat not to sign a major economic stimulus package approved by Congress this week.
The S&P 500 index closed up 13.05 points, or 0.35%, to 3,703.06. Despite the gains, the index ended the week down 0.2%. Relatively safe investments like utilities and real estate were among the biggest gainers, while energy stocks fell.
Technology and real estate shares led the S&P 500 higher, with energy the only one of the benchmark index's 11 sector groups to finish in the red.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 70.04 points, or 0.2%, to 30,199.87 and the Nasdaq composite rose 33.62 points, or 0.26%, to 12,804.73.
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Trading was extremely light in the abbreviated session ahead of the Christmas holiday. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq ended at noon instead of the usual 3 p.m. Volume was a less than half of a typical trading day. Most financial markets will be closed today for Christmas.
Investors remain focused on Washington, where Democrats in Congress are expected to try to make alterations to the $900 billion covid stimulus bill that President Trump has threatened to veto. Trump has asked for higher individual payments to Americans, something Democrats support but which is unlikely to get a vote in the Republican-held Senate.
The hope has been that Trump will back away from his veto threat and the stimulus package might tide the economy over until widespread vaccinations can help the world begin to return to normal.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy continues to deteriorate under widespread coronavirus outbreaks and hospitalizations. The Labor Department said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. The number is still considered extremely high compared with before the pandemic, but it was better than economists were expecting.
Other reports were grimmer. Consumers pulled back on their spending by more last month than economists expected, mainly because of a drop in income.
"The market is in autopilot mode at least until the end of year, which has positive indications for a Santa Claus rally," said Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategy at CFRA Research.
"Right now we have a lot of animal spirits surging into year end," Michael Purves, founder and CEO at Tallbacken Capital Advisors, said on Bloomberg TV. "As constructive as I am on markets in the broader term, I do expect there will be a hangover of sorts to process this overextension some time later this winter."
Information for this article was contributed by Stan Choe, Alex Veiga and Joe McDonald of The Associated Press and by Kamaron Leach of Bloomberg News.
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