The first day of the Santa Claus Rally did not disappoint. There were moments in both the premarket trading and regular sessions when a green close was in doubt. However, when the bulls established a sustained bid above the previous close around Noon EST, the bears were unable to regain the downward momentum.
The upward bias picked steam in the final fifteen minutes, which nudged the index to a gain of 20.50 handles for the session with a closing price of 3869.75. That helped trim the loss for the week to only 9.25 handles. Considering the index was in the red for the week by 90 handles at Thursday’s low, Friday’s session was a win for the bulls.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) was the biggest winner of the top components of the index. For the session, the issue gained $2.80 or 2.65% at a closing price of $108.68.
That was 2% better than the cash index’s advance of 0.59%.
For the third day in a row, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) was the biggest loser of the top components. For the session, the issue declined by $2.20 or 1.8% with a closing price of $123.15.