Dow, S&P 500 close 2020 history at record highs; Nasdaq Composite Achieves Best Annual Return in 11 Years

Stock indices ended higher on Thursday, the last trading session in 2020 to end the year on a high note after plunging into a bear market in February and March as the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the global economy into a deep recession. The promise of vaccines and disproportionate fiscal and monetary support have helped boost purchases in recent months from market lows in March. US data on Thursday showed first-time unemployment benefit claims unexpectedly declined from 19,000 to 787,000 last week. Economists polled by MarketWatch predicted that initial claims would rise to 835,000. The state’s continuing unemployment claims fell from 103,000 to 5.22 million. The Dow Jones Industrial Average [: DJIA] rose nearly 200 points, or 0.7%, to end at around 30,606 (on a preliminary basis), marking a record close for the blue-chip index, while the S&P 500 SPX index,
+ 0.64%
hit its own closing high with a rise of 0.6% to 3,756. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed just under a record, up 0.1% to 12,888. However, the Nasdaq Composite posted its best annual gain since 2009, up 43.6%, according to FactSet data.