Wall Street Kicks Off Santa Rally Season On A Positive Note, All Major Indices Close Higher

The S&P 500 climbed 1%, extending its gains for a third consecutive session following last week's volatile Federal Reserve meeting.

Major indices and sectors closed higher in a shortened session on Friday, kicking off the Santa Rally season with a positive note ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 1%, extending its gains for a third consecutive session following last week’s volatile Federal Reserve meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) gained 1.3%, nearly erasing last week’s losses.

Consumer discretionary stocks, the top-performing sector of the year, led the rally amid light trading volumes. Tesla (TSLA) Inc surged 7.35%, marking its strongest single-day performance since November.

Other standout performers in the S&P 500 included Walmart (WMT) Inc., Starbucks (SBUX) Corp., and Netflix (NFLX) Inc., up 2.4%, 2.8% and 2.5% respectively.

The U.S. dollar index posted modest gains, with the greenback hovering near over one-year highs against the euro. Treasury yields remained stable, with the 10-year benchmark at 4.6%, the highest level since May.

In commodities, gold edged up 0.4%, while oil prices rose 0.7%.

Risk appetite returned to the cryptocurrency market following recent volatility, as Bitcoin (BTC/USD) jumped 4% to over $98,000. This rally buoyed crypto-related stocks, including Microstrategy (MSTR) Inc., MARA Digital Holdings (MARA) Inc., and Coinbase Global (COIN) Inc., all posting notable gains.

Here's how major indices performed on Tuesday:

S&P 500: +39.25 points (+1.0%) to 3,923.8

Dow: +298.4 points (+0.9%) to 33,423.8

Nasdaq 100: +144.05 points (+1.3%) to 11,033.05

Major ETFs Performance:

According to Benzinga Pro data:

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) closed at $391.83, up 0.9% on the day.

The ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 (NYSE:UPRO) ETF closed at $163.33, up 2.7% on the day.

The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) ETF closed at $34.43, up 0.4% on the day.

The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF (NYSE:BND) closed at $98.13, down 0.1% on the day.