Major US stock markets rose sharply in the last hour of trading, and ended the session in positive territory as tax losses from the sale decreased.

Thursday was the last day for the sale of tax losses, so buyers on the falls expected a profitable opportunity.

Earlier in the course of trading, pressure on the indices was exerted by renewed tensions between China and the United States. Reuters reported that President Trump is considering signing a decree in the new year prohibiting US companies from using Chinese equipment from Huawei and ZTE from Huawei and ZTE. Investors are worried that the president’s decision could jeopardize negotiations between the two largest economies in the world who are trying to conclude a trade deal. The report of the Conference Board, which showed that the consumer confidence index fell to 128.1 in December from 136.4 in November (revised from 135.7), also had a negative impact on the mood of market participants. Analysts had expected the index to be 133.7.

Almost all components of DOW recorded an increase (28 out of 30). The growth leader was 3M Company (MMM, + 2.38%). Apple Inc.’s shares turned out to be an outsider. (APL, -0.65%).

Almost all sectors of the S & P finished trading in positive territory. The industrial goods sector grew the most (+ 1.2%). The decline showed only the conglomerate sector (-0.6%)

At the time of closing:

Dow 23,138.82 +260.37 +1.14%

S & P 500 2,488.83 +21.13 +0.86%

Nasdaq 100 6,579.49 +25.14 +0.38%

• Gold for February delivery edged up 0.4% to $1,277.90 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have trimmed almost all of their 2018 drop in recent weeks, boosted by bets that the Federal Reserve will cool its pace of interest-rate increases moving forward and a weaker dollar. Gold is at its highest level since June

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Thursday,  pulling back from Wednesday's rally.

Global Stocks:

U.S. house prices rose in October, up 0.3 percent from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index (HPI).  The previously reported 0.2 percent increase in September remained unchanged.

The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  From October 2017 to October 2018, house prices were up 5.7 percent.

For the nine census divisions, seasonally adjusted monthly price changes from September 2018 to October 2018 ranged from -0.6 percent in the South Atlantic division to +1.4 percent in the Pacific division.  The 12-month changes were all positive, ranging from +3.3 percent in the Middle Atlantic division to +8.5 percent in the Mountain division.

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

In the week ending December 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 216,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 214,000 to 217,000. The 4-week moving average was 218,000, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 222,000 to 222,750.

The 10-year Treasury note yield climbed 6.1 basis points to 2.797%. The 2-year note yield picked up 4.9 basis points to 2.609%, while the 30-year bond yield jumped 5.4 basis points to 3.050%. All three maturities notched their biggest one-day rise this year. Bond prices move in the opposite direction of yields.

EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.1493 (1782)

$1.1469 (1065)

$1.1444 (260)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.1377

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.1330 (4924)

$1.1289 (5149)

$1.1244 (3116)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date January, 7 is 68416 contracts (according to data from December, 26) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,1650 (5852);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.2790 (1743)

$1.2762 (575)

$1.2725 (226)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.2654

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.2608 (2037)

$1.2574 (1890)

$1.2534 (1547)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date January, 7 is 36522 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,3400 (3833);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date January, 7 is 33161 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,2450 (2872);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 0.91 versus 0.91 from the previous trading day according to data from December, 26

* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.

** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.