Wall St edges higher; S&P closes decade with nearly 190 per cent gain

Wall Street's major indexes edged higher on Tuesday on a renewed rally fuelled by trade optimism, capping off a decade of handsome returns in which the benchmark S&P 500 rose nearly 190 per cent.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched their biggest annual percentage gains since 2013, while the Dow closed 2019 with its biggest yearly percentage gain since 2017. In 2019, the current bull run in US stocks became the longest one on record as trade optimism, dovish monetary policy and an improving economic outlook fueled sharp gains.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said on Twitter that the Phase-1 US-China trade deal would be signed on January 15 at the White House, bolstering widespread expectations of a finalised preliminary agreement in early 2020. That development was offset, however, by news of violent protests outside the US embassy in Baghdad.

The session's modest gains marked a turnaround from Monday, when the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their biggest daily percentage losses in nearly four weeks. US stocks had become overbought, and Monday's declines helped make room for future gains, said Alec Young, managing director of global markets research at FTSE Russell in New York. “It helps to have two steps forward, one step back,” he said. “It helps sustain the rally.”

Volume was somewhat lower than usual, with 5.99 billion shares traded on US exchanges, compared with the 6.84 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

US stock markets will be closed on Wednesday for New Year's Day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.3 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 28,538.44, the S&P 500 gained 9.49 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 3,230.78 and the Nasdaq Composite added 26.61 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 8,972.60.

Wall Street's major indexes posted significant gains for the month, quarter and year. In December, the Dow added 1.73 per cent, the S&P 500 2.87 per cent and the Nasdaq 3.56 per cent. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Dow gained 6.02 per cent, the S&P 500 8.55 per cent and the Nasdaq 12.18 per cent.

For the year, the Dow rose 22.33 per cent, the S&P 500 28.9 per cent and the Nasdaq 35.24 per cent. The benchmark S&P 500 also posted its biggest December percentage gain since 2010. For the decade, the Dow advanced 173.67 per cent, the S&P 500 189.72 per cent and the Nasdaq 295.42 per cent.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.81-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.64-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 89 new highs and 26 new lows.