US equity markets rallied ahead of Christmas, with the S&P500 sweeping to a fresh record closing high as investors digested some relatively benign US economic and some favourable studies around the relatively muted health impact of the Omicron variant - Dow up +197-points or +0.55% . The broader S&P500 gained +0.62% to 4,725.79, booking its 68th record closing high of 2021 and sitting within 0.4% of its all-time record intra-day peak. Consumer Discretionary (up +1.24%), Industrials (+1.16%) and Materials (+1.01%) all gained over >1% to lead nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Real Estate (down -0.36%) and Utilities (-0.03%) were the only primary sectors to close in the red. The Nasdaq +0.85%. Microsoft Corp rose +0.45% and Nvidia Corp +0.82%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 +0.89%. JD.com tumbled -6.92% after Tencent Holdings Ltd said it will substantially reduce its stake in the Chinese internet company.
