Thursday’s trading took place against the backdrop of new job figures that show a continued strong labor market in the US.
The Dow Jones industrial index rose 1.1 percent, the broad S&P 500 index 1.8 percent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index 2.6 percent.
One of the big winners was the electric car manufacturer Tesla, which rose 8.1 percent. It repairs some of the recent sharp declines as a result of, among other things, a covid-related production stoppage at the company’s largest factory in Shanghai. CEO Elon Musk’s own sales of Tesla shares and great focus on the Twitter takeover are also pointed out as reasons for the price falls. The stock has still lost over 65 percent this year.
Netflix – another of the year’s big losers – rose sharply after analyst firm CFRA raised its valuation. The streaming giant’s share rose 5.1 percent.
Southwest Airlines, which has been plagued by canceled flights, recovered 3.7 percent after announcing a return to normal operations on Friday.
A cheerful end to the year will not change the fact that it is the worst stock market year since 2008. The S&P 500 looks set to lose around 20 percent, the Dow Jones closer to 10 percent and the Nasdaq as much as 35 percent.