US equity markets staged a furious rally following sharp falls on Christmas Eve that had left the S&P500 on the brink of a bear market. A late report that a US government delegation will travel to Beijing in two weeks to hold trade talks provided a final push higher for equities - Dow roared +1,086 points or +4.98% higher, logging its first +1,000-point single day gain in history as all 30 index constituents rallied (after all 30 finished in the red on Christmas Eve) The broader S&P500 rallied +4.96% after coming within 2-points of a bear market earlier in the session (touching an intra-session low of 2,346.58 versus the bear market line line of 2,344.60). Consumer Discretionary (up +6.28%) led all eleven primary sectors higher, with Energy (+6.24%) and Information Technology (+6.05%) not far behind. According to Bloomberg data that stretches back to 1990, it was the first time ever in which more than >500 stocks in the S&P500 finished positive, with 99.8% of stocks advancing (NB: there are 505 stocks in the S&P500 index). Gold and copper producer Newmont Mining Corp (down -0.14%) was the lone decliner overnight. The Nasdaq rebounded +5.84% to track back above last Thursday's (20 December) close. On a percentage basis, all three major indices posted their strongest one-day gains since 23 March, 2009 and its the first time that all three major indices have posted gains of over >4% since 2011. Amazon.com Inc rose +9.45% after the company said overnight that it had another record holiday season, buoyed by demand for its best-selling devices, including Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote and Echo. Shoppers delivered the strongest holiday sales increase for US retailers in six years, according to early data Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending with all forms of payment. Total US retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose 5.1% between 1 November and 24 December from a year earlier. US consumers spent over >US$850B this holiday season, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. Every member of the FAANG complex advanced at least +6.4%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 Index posted its biggest single session gain since November 2011, rising +63-points or +4.96%. Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc (up +6.84%) announced a $1B share buyback program (representing ~3.5% of the company's market capitalisation) in a bid to lift stock prices weighed down by concerns about China's economy and potential sexual-assault charges against the company's chief executive. JD.com's American Depositary Receipts (ADR) have plunged 52.3% in the past year.
