WN:CC - Stocks Strengthen Heading into Thanksgiving Weekend
Stocks rose Wednesday after yields briefly fell to their lowest level in two months, and the November market rally broadened into the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 181.93 points to move into noon hour EST Wednesday at 35,270.22.
The S&P 500 surged 20.30 points to 4,558.49.
The NASDAQ boomed 85.99 points to 14,285.97.
Three-fifths of the stocks trading on the New York Stock Exchange were up Wednesday, indicating widening breadth for the market rally. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also saw greater participation, with 65.7% of the NASDAQ stocks rising. Areas such as consumer staples and small- and mid-caps, which are 2023 laggards, rose 0.5% Wednesday and outperformed the broad market.
Meanwhile, the energy sector lost 1% Wednesday after OPEC delayed a meeting on production cuts originally scheduled for the weekend. APA Corp fell 3.5%, while Marathon Oil, EOG Resources and Devon Energy tumbled more than 2%.
The major averages are all still on pace for monthly gains, however. The NASDAQ has rallied nearly 11% month to date, as well as the Dow up more than 6% and S&P 500 jumping 8%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were slightly lower, raising yields to 4.42% from Tuesday's 4.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $3.08 to $74.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $6.40 to $1,995.20.