US stocks close higher to post weekly gains before Christmas

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major US stock indexes closed higher Thursday to post weekly gains on the last trading day of the week ahead of Christmas.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 196 points, or 0.55%, to close at 35,950. The blue-chip index gained 1.7% this week.

The S&P 500 rose 29 points, or 0.62%, to post an all-time high closing of 4,725. The index had a weekly increase of 2.3%.

The Nasdaq was up 131 points, or 0.85%, to close at 15,653. The tech-heavy index jumped 3.2% for the week.

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will be closed Friday in observance of the Christmas holiday.

With optimism of the omicron coronavirus variant being less severe than the delta variant, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, declined by 3.6% to 17.96.

The dollar index was flat at 96.05, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes added 2.37% to 1.493%.

Precious metals were up, with gold adding 0.3% to $1,808 per ounce and silver increasing 0.4% to $22.9.

Crude prices were on the rise once again, with Brent crude trading at $76.63 per barrel with a 1.8% gain. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude was at $73.81 -- a 1.44% increase.