By Pia Singh
U.S. equities ticked up Monday as Wall Street started the shortened Thanksgiving holiday week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 added 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5%.
Microsoft shares were up nearly 1%, making it the second-biggest gainer in the Dow, after CEO Satya Nadella said former OpenAi chief Sam Altman will be joining the tech giant to lead a new AI research team.
The energy and tech sectors were the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, up 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. APA and Marathon Oil added 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively. In tech, Palo Alto Networks jumped 2%, while Intel added 1.2%. U.S. markets will be closed Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Friday will also be a shortened trading day. Trading around the Thanksgiving holiday has been choppy in recent years, but November is still the best-performing month for the S&P 500, according to the Stock Traders’ Almanac. Despite the short week, there are some key catalysts for the market ahead. Nvidia reports earnings Tuesday. The chipmaker is this year’s best-performing stock, up more than 200%. Wall Street is coming off a winning weekly performance. The S&P 500 closed last week higher by 2.2% and the Dow added 1.9%, marking the first three-week streak for the indexes since July. The Nasdaq Composite finished the week higher by 2.4%, notching its best week since June.
