By Anora Mahmudova and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Weekly jobless claims drop to lowest level in 7 weeks
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks edged higher on Wednesday,
building on five straight days of advances that sent both the
S&P 500 and Dow industrials to record levels.
The S&P 500 (SPX) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
advanced modestly, as a selloff in energy stocks limited gains.
Utilities and healthcare stocks were leading the gains.
But even the smallest increase would give the two benchmarks
fresh closing records. On Tuesday, the Dow closed above 18,000 for
the first time, in the fifth-fastest 1,000-point rise in the Dow's
history.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) also gained.
Investors will wrap up the trading day early, with both the New
York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market closing at 1 p.m.
Eastern Time. The markets will remain closed Thursday for Christmas
Day, and will reopen Friday with normal hours.
The Dow at 18,000 before the end of 2014 is "extremely
encouraging", considering the "January Effect" which is the theory
that "markets will rally even more when we get in to 2015, as
investors pile back in to the equity market," said Neal Gilbert,
senior market analyst, at Forex.com, in a Tuesday note.
The Dow reaching 20,000 by February may be a stretch, but not
entirely out of reach, said Gilbert.
"As bold as I'd like to get, the daily trend-line resistance
indicates that 20,000 won't be achieved until late [third quarter
of 2015], so we may have a little time to wait before we start
breaking out our Jules Verne-themed balloons," he wrote.
Christmas Eve traditionally is one of the lightest trading days
of the years, and investors on Wednesday showed little reaction to
a sharper-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims. The number
of people who applied for U.S. unemployment-insurance benefits fell
by 9,000 to 280,000 in the week that ended Dec. 20, a seven-week
low and only modestly above a 14-year low.
Oil: At 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the Energy Information
Administration is expected to report a drawdown of 2.4 million
barrels from U.S. crude-oil inventories for the week ended Dec. 19,
according to a Platts survey. If the EIA reports a decline in oil
stocks, that would be in contrast to late Tuesday data from the
American Petroleum Institute, which showed crude inventories rose
5.4 million barrels last week.
Oil prices, which have been volatile in recent weeks on
oversupply concerns, moved lower on Wednesday. West Texas
Intermediate crude futures for February delivery (CLG5) fell more
than 2%, to below $56 a barrel. Brent crude futures also dropped
more than 2%, to $60.13 a barrel.
Stocks to watch: Biotech stocks were seeing a rebound after a
harsh selloff on Tuesday. Celgene Corp (CELG) and Gilead Sciences
(GILD) were the top gainers on the S&P 500.
Energy companies were hits once more, as crude oil prices
resumed their decline. Nabors Industries Ltd and Transocean Ltd
were among the top decliners, falling 4% and 3% respectively.
Shares of Cal-Maine Foods Inc.(CALM) shares dropped sharply
after the company reported disappointing results for its fiscal
second quarter on Tuesday.
Other markets: In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Average rose 1.2%, while
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended up a more modest 0.1%. European
stock markets were mixed ahead of the Christmas break. Gold futures
(GCG5) were down slightly, less than $1 an ounce.
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