Wednesday’s Market Recap: Stocks Up Slightly On Low Trading Volume

Low trading volume due to the holiday season kept markets in check as Wall Street rose slightly on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was up to 8,486 points, after gaining nearly 49 points. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) added 3 points and closed at 1,524 points. While the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 2 points and closed with 865. Overseas markets were a different story, as Japan’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) and Britain’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) declined 2.37% and 0.93% respectively. Trading was light across all markets as many investors were focusing on Christmas and other holidays.

Light, sweet crude oil was hit hard today as trading on the NYMEX pushed prices down to $35.35 per barrel. Today’s drop marks the ninth straight day crude prices have fallen. Gasoline futures were down to $0.79, while heating oil futures fell to $1.19 as markets closed Wednesday. Prices of natural gas finished at $5.91 after a slight gain for the day. Gold rose approximately $9, and settled at a price of $848.

The consumer department released data showing that after adjusting for inflation, consumer spending declined by 0.6% during the month of November. Including November, spending has been falling for the past five months. The Labor Department said that jobless claims for last week jumped by about 30,000 jobs from the prior week’s data. The number is now at 586,000 initial claims for unemployment.

The finance arm of General Motors Corp. (GM), GMAC Financial Services, was given approval by the Federal Reserve to become a bank holding company. This gives GMAC the ability to potentially receive a part of the bailout plan and emergency government loans if necessary. This move further protects GM from bankruptcy or collapse.

All U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday. Please join me on Friday for the next Market Recap, as trading resumes once again. Enjoy the Holidays!

Disclosure: None

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