Wall Street indexes rose slightly in thin holiday trading on Thursday, supported by gains in technology and financial stocks.
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Apple’s 0.4 percent rise along with gains in high-flying FANG stocks – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet – were the biggest drivers of the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Commodities were in the spotlight, with oil prices near their two-and-a-half-year highs and copper at four-year peak, helping global equities hit record levels.
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The benchmark S&P 500 has climbed nearly 20 percent this year, on track to record its best annual gains since 2013, boosted by robust economic growth and solid corporate earnings.
The rally is widely expected to extend into 2018, fueled by gains from a new U.S. tax law that lowers tax burden on corporates.
“Tax cuts will produce an increase in earnings and that is now incorporated into official sell-side estimates,” said Brant Houston, managing director at CIBC Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management in Colorado.
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“However, I don’t think we should get used to returns like this, the trends looking forward will be more subdued than we saw in 2017.”
The dollar slipped to a four-week low against a basket of currencies, under pressure from a recent dip in U.S. 10-year bond yields. A weaker dollar tends to boost revenue of companies with large global presence.
At 12:28 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35.9 points, or 0.14 percent, at 24,810.2, the S&P 500 was up 1.85 points, or 0.07 percent, at 2,684.47 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 9.02 points, or 0.13 percent, at 6,948.35.
Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher.
JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Berkshire Hathaway were up, helping the financial index rise 0.18 percent.
Live Ventures. owner of internet marketing firm LiveDeal, surged more than 70 percent after reporting a jump in annual revenue.
J.B. Hunt Transport fell about 2 percent to $113.51 after the logistic services provider forecast current-quarter profit below estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,690 to 1,100. On the Nasdaq, 1,646 issues rose and 1,182 fell.
