S&P closes in on record in quiet Wall Street session
US stocks closed slightly higher in languid trading on Wednesday, with little market-moving news to fuel conviction as the S&P 500 hovered just below bull market confirmation. The three major US stock indexes oscillated between modest gains and losses throughout the session but finished up for the day. All are on course for monthly, quarterly, and annual gains. The S&P 500 ended 0.3 percent below its record closing high of 4,797 reached on January 3, 2022. The Dow notched a new record closing high. "When you have very few catalysts and minimal trading activity you tend to see continuation of the trends," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "We’ve got three days left of trading in the year," Carlson added. "That means three days left of tax harvesting, three days of portfolio window dressing ... those sort of things can get magnified because of the lack of trading volume." Reaching a new record close would confirm the bellwether index entered a bull market when it reached the bear market closing trough in October 2022. "Those kind of milestones are important because they can generate activity for investors who are sitting on the fence," Carlson said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 percent, to 37,657, the S&P 500 gained 0.14 percent, to 4,782 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.16 percent, to 15,099. Shares of Bit Digital jumped 18.6 percent following the bitcoin miner's announcement that it plans to double its mining operations. First Wave BioPharma shares surged 49.6 percent after the drug developer agreed to sell its inflammatory bowel disease drug to an undisclosed company. (Reuters)