Nasdaq, Dow, S&P 500 maintain milestone trifecta

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY4:16 p.m. EST November 27, 2013


(Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving
  • Nasdaq closed above 4,000 level
  • Oil futures decline


The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 closed at all-time highs again on Wednesday, as the Nasdaq composite closed at a 13-year high.

Investors are thankful going into the holiday that all three indexes are each cruising above big milestones.

Stocks marched higher on positive economic news as trading thinned out ahead of Thanksgiving.

The Dow and S&P 500 closed up about 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite ended about 0.7% higher, more than than 40 points above the 4000 threshold it had surpassed at Tuesday's close.

It was the first time in 13 years the tech-rich index had ended the day about that level.

The other two indexes are moving further above their own recently achieved milestones -- the Dow cruising about 97 points above 16,000 and the S&P 500 about 7 over 1800.

JOBLESS CLAIMS: Drop as layoffs slow
FACTORIES: Durable goods orders drop 2%

In a sign that workers are in less danger of being laid off, the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped 10,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 316,000, the Labor Department said. A private survey by the University of Michigan and financial data company Thomson Reuters showed that consumer confidence rose in November.

The stock market is trading at record levels on a combination of solid corporate earnings, a slowly recovering economy and easy-money policies from the Federal Reserve. The Fed is buying $85 billion in bonds every month to keep long-term interest rates low, making bonds less attractive than stocks for investors.

In the prior session, the Nasdaq jumped 0.6% to 4,017.75, a market milestone. The Dow rose less than a point to 16,072.80 and the S&P 500 index nudged up less than a point to 1,802.75.

TUESDAY: Nasdaq closes above 4000

In energy markets Wednesday, benchmark crude for January delivery was down 1.57% at $92.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 41 cents to close at $93.68 on Tuesday.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.4% at 15,449.63.

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