US stocks hit fresh records in shortened trading day
If a major US stock index hits another all-time high and there’s no one there to see it, do the gains still count?
The S&P 500 advanced 0.6% to a fresh closing peak, the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9%, and the Russell 2000 rose 0.4% in an abbreviated day of trading that saw US markets close at 1 p.m. ET in light of the Thanksgiving holiday.
As you might suspect, trading volumes across US exchanges were the lowest they’d been since the last shortened session of trading (July 3).
Tech heavyweights outperformed, with the so-called Magnificent 7 stocks up 1.4% as a group led by Tesla, the second-best performer on the S&P 500 behind Ralph Lauren. All members of the cohort rose, save Google. Tech was atop the S&P 500 sector ETF leaderboard; all except real estate were positive on the day.