U.S. stocks edged higher on Wednesday even after President Donald Trump criticized the new COVID-19 relief package, a move that could delay the deployment of funds to struggling Americans.
The Dow Jones Industrials restored 158.47 points to began the last full session before Christmas at 30,173.98
The S&P 500 regained 13.95 points to 3,701.21. Cyclical sectors — pockets of the market most sensitive to an economic recovery — led the gains. Energy and financials were the two best-performing groups, rising more than 1% each. Materials and industrials were also up.
The S&P 500 was coming off its third straight day of losses after its recent rally to record highs. Some investors started taking profits after an unexpected year of solid gains. The broad equity benchmark is up more than 14% with only six trading days left in 2020.
The NASDAQ dropped 8.11 points from Tuesday's all-time record to 12,799.81, as tech heavyweights Amazon and Microsoft dipped.
Late on Tuesday, Trump called the new $900-billion COVID relief package an unsuitable "disgrace" and admonished lawmakers to alter the bill's content, especially the amount allocated for direct payments to Americans.
Trump did not threaten to veto the legislation but he asked to be sent a "suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a
COVID relief package."
Travel-related stocks, which sold off earlier this week, rebounded as concerns about a new coronavirus strain from the U.K. eased. United Airlines and Delta climbed more than 2% each, while Carnival jumped over 4%. Norwegian also traded 3.7% higher. Health experts said the vaccines in production would be effective against the new variant.
On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced a second deal with the U.S. government to supply an additional 100 million doses of their jointly-developed COVID-19 vaccine. The deal brings the total number of doses to 200 million, which will be delivered to the U.S. by the end of July next year.
On the data front, U.S. jobless claims totaled 803,000 during the week ending Dec. 19, better than an estimate of 888,000 according to economists polled by Dow Jones. However, core durable goods and personal income both fell short of expectations in November.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury lost sharply, raising yields to 0.96% from Tuesday's 0.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices restored 55 cents to $47.57 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $7.10 to $1,877.40.