The Dow and S&P 500 came off their best levels

The Dow and S&P 500 came off their best levels in the afternoon session, trading just slightly higher, though given their record finishes on Wednesday, any close today in the green will mark new highs. The NASDAQ perked up some from opening levels, up over 0.5%, with growth stocks aided at the margins by softer Treasury yields. Mega-tech was narrowly mixed on the day, while travel stocks were mostly underwater. Investors generally see a fairly bright outlook in Q1 of the New Year, which has kept this year’s Santa Claus rally alive, though time will tell what impact inflation, Fed action, supply chains and Covid will have on investor sentiment in 2022.