The biggest boost to the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 came from Nike Inc, which jumped 8.3% after the company’s quarterly results beat Wall Street estimates on strength in North America. All 11 S&P sectors were higher, with the biggest gainers being the defensive consumer staples, utilities and real estate indexes. The smallest gains were in technology, industrials and the communication services index, which houses high-growth stocks such as Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc. However, markets are expected to be volatile on account of “quadruple witching”, as investors unwind interests in futures and options contracts prior to expiration. While the Nasdaq came within a whisker of bear market territory on Thursday, other segments of the market, including the Russell 2000 small-cap benchmark and the Dow Jones Transport Average are already in bear market territory.

Source: Mint December 21, 2018 15:33 UTC