The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed on Thursday on the last trading day of 2020. This was a turbulent year that was closed due to the brutal damage of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dow Jones Index rose 196 points, or 0.65%, to 30,606.48, while the S&P 500 Index rose 0.64% to 3,756.07, and the Nasdaq Index rose 0.14% to 12,888.28.
The Dow and S&P indexes also reached intraday highs.
For the whole year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 7.2%. It ended with 28,538.44 in 2019.
The S&P 500 Index rose 16.3% in 2020 and closed at 3,230.78 points in 201
The Nasdaq Composite Index has risen 43.6% this year. It closed at 8,972.60 in 2019.
The stock market closed slightly higher on Wednesday, and the Dow closed at a record high.
According to the Labor Department, in the week ending December 26, initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to 787,000, the second consecutive decline.
Wall Street originally expected the number of initial jobless claims to rise to 828,000. The total for the previous week was raised by 3,000 to 806,000.
Robert Frick, an economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said: “The number of initial jobless claims has dropped a bit, but at such a high level, and because of the large error, due to the surge in the coronavirus, they are basically stuck A painful level of inflation.”.
Frick said that as long as this surge continues, according to state and federal measures, even with stimulus measures, we can expect more than one million Americans to lose their jobs every week.
On the political front, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) stated that if Republicans agree to hold separate elections, Democrats will allow voting to limit the scope of responsibilities of technology companies and establish a committee to review 2020 Elections. CNBC reported that when sending a $2,000 check to most Americans, it voted against it.
When President Donald Trump agreed to sign a $900 billion Covid-19 relief plan, he asked Congress to take action on all three issues, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R -Kentucky) regarded the direct payment of $2,000 as “socialism for the rich.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, the confirmed death toll from the global coronavirus covid-19 has risen to nearly 1.81 million. The number of virus cases worldwide has risen to 83.1 million.
The death toll in the United States is 343,030, the highest in the world. In the United States, the number of confirmed infections is 19.8 million.
According to the university’s data, there were 201,555 new coronavirus cases in the United States on Wednesday, with a record 3,725 deaths.
The day after Colorado authorities confirmed that the virus strain was found in men in their 20s, a highly contagious coronavirus that was spreading in the United Kingdom was discovered in California.
Colorado health officials also discovered a second possible new strain. Experts say that existing vaccines should be effective against new strains.
Exxon Mobil (XOM)-Get report In a regulatory document, it was pointed out that the company is likely to lose money for the fourth consecutive quarter after offsetting its upstream assets by as much as $20 billion. The energy giant’s stock closed down nearly 1% to $41.01.
JC Penney CEO Jill Soltau will leave the retailer. The new owner of the chain that emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings earlier this month has begun to look for a new leader.
Simon Property Group (SPG)-Get report Brookfield Asset Management (BAM)-Get report, The two American shopping mall owners who bought Penney in the fall stated that they are looking for “leaders who focus on modern retail, consumer experience, and the goal of creating a sustainable and durable JC Penney.
The exchanged shares will be closed on January 1. The U.S. bond market closes at 2 pm on Thursday, and there will be no trading on New Year’s Day.
