Stocks were mostly higher in the early going of a holiday-shortened session Tuesday, with tech-related shares leading the way as the so-called Santa Claus rally period gets under way.
The phenomenon was described in 1972 by Yale Hirsch, founder of the Stock Trader’s Almanac. It covers the last five trading days of the year plus the first two of the new year. This year it started at the opening bell on Tuesday and will end at the closing bell on Jan. 3. Average S&P 500 gains over this seven-trading-day range since 1969 are a respectable 1.3%, according to the Almanac.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5%, while the S&P 500 added 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was hovering near unchanged.