Dow marks the 50th record close this year

Twenty nine out of thirty Dow components end higher

U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday, 26 December 2013 extending their record run after government data showed a decline in weekly jobless claims. Both, Dow and S&P 500 ended the session at fresh record highs. Despite the steady, day-long rally in the Dow and S&P, the Nasdaq spent the entire session inside of a ten-point range, and settled essentially where it started the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 122.33 points, or 0.8%, to 16,479.88, marking its 50th record close this year. The Nasdaq Composite closed 11.76 points, or 0.3%, higher at 4,167.18. The S&P 500 index added 8.70 points, or 0.5%, to 1,842.02, closing at a record level for the 44th time this year.

J.P. Morgan Chase was the only component in the 30-stock index that ended in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw its rally attempts short-circuited by its top component, Apple which fell 0.7%. Meanwhile, the S&P technology sector inched higher throughout the day and settled with a modest gain of 0.3%. BlackBerry shares slid 8.8% after news that the mobile phone maker's co-founder and co-chief executive officer Mike Lazaridis had dropped a plan to buy the company.

Outside of technology, the financial sector was the only cyclical group that could not keep pace with the broader market. The remaining four cyclical sectorsconsumer discretionary, energy, industrials and materials all finished ahead of the S&P.

Of those four outperformers, energy and industrials provided leadership from the opening bell. The energy sector maintained its relative strength into the close while crude oil was limited to an increase of 0.4% (to $99.59/bbl). Top-weighted components, Chevron and ExxonMobil underpinned the growth-sensitive sector and their strength also factored into the outperformance of the Dow.

The price-weighted Dow also drew strength from 3M and Boeing, both of which helped the industrial sector end not far behind energy.

Participation was well, well, well-below average as only 411 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Today's economic data was limited to weekly initial claims, which dropped to 338,000 from an upwardly revised rate of 380,000 (from 379,000) while the consensus expected a decline to 350,000. Seasonal adjustment issues have been a recurring theme in claims data for the past few months, and the trend continued in today's report.

Gold and silver futures rose in thin, post-Christmas trade on Thursday, 26 December 2013 gaining ground on a pickup in physical demand from Asia, while first-time claims for unemployment benefits saw a larger-than-expected drop.

February gold futures rose $9, or 0.7%, to close at $1,212.30 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver futures jumped 44 cents, or 2.3%, to settle at $19.92 an ounce.

Oil futures ended slightly higher on Thursday, 26 December 2013 in choppy activity after the Christmas holiday, pushing back into positive territory after a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. jobless claims, while gains were capped by a reported rise in U.S. crude supplies. February crude oil rose 33 cents, or 0.3%, to close at $99.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Following the close of trade on Tuesday, numbers from the American Petroleum Institute showed a surprise rise of 500,000 barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles for the week ended Dec. 20.

There is no economic data of note on tomorrow's schedule.

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