NEW YORK — The major U.S. stock benchmarks ended Thursday’s shortened trading day with a fifth straight session of gains, and at the highest closing levels of the year, lifted by a deeper drop in initial jobless claims and rising metals prices.
U.S. financial markets closed at 11 a.m. MST for Christmas Eve and remained closed Friday for Christmas.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 53.66 points, 0.5 percent for the day and 1.85 percent for the week.
The S&P 500 ended the day with a 5.89 point gain, or 0.5 percent, and the trading week with a 2.18 percent advance.
The Nasdaq composite gained 16.05 points, 0.7 percent for the day and 3.35 percent for the week.
“The path of least resistance seems to be higher,” said Rick Bensignor, chief market strategist at Execution LLC, an agency-only broker dealer. “Those who really wanted to sell have already sold in the last five or six weeks when we went sideways.”
The Labor Department reported that initial claims for jobless benefits dropped by 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 452,000 in the week that ended Dec. 19, from an unrevised 480,000 the previous week.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected claims would fall by just 10,000 to 470,000. The last time initial claims were lower was the week of Sept. 6, 2008, when they stood at 447,000.
Separately, the Commerce Department reported orders for durable goods rose in November, but less than what economists had expected.
Manufacturers’ orders for the long-lasting goods increased 0.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted $166.87 billion. Economists had projected a 0.6 percent gain.
Dow futures climbed earlier in the morning after the Senate approved landmark health care legislation, as expected.
But passage of the bill is unlikely to significantly affect the market, said Bill Groeneveld, head trader at Finance Investments.
Managed-care companies WellPoint, Humana and Aetna were among the health care sector’s decliners Thursday.
WellPoint has jumped nearly 10 percent this month, while Humana is up 9.3 percent for the month and Aetna has surged 15 percent this month.
While individual stocks may get a boost, “overall in the economy people had factored that in already,” Groeneveld said.
The dollar fell against both the euro and the yen. Treasurys also were lower. Crude-oil futures climbed above $77 a barrel.
