Santa visited Wall Street on Christmas Eve – and lo, the markets rose, snapping a five-day losing streak.
A man dressed as Kris Kringle greeted traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, shaking hands with the men and hugging the women.
And the unbelievable happened – the markets climbed. Not enough to provide the Christmas rally some traders hoped for, but enough so that the major stock indices ended in positive territory.
The Dow Jones industrial average – which had fallen for the previous five sessions – rose 48.99, or 0.58 percent, to 8,468.48.
The two other major stock indicators also went up.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 4.99, or 0.58 percent, to 868.15, and the Nasdaq index rose 3.36, or 0.22 percent, to 1,524.90.
The major reason for the rise was a Commerce Department report on consumer spending that was gloomy but not as grim as expected.
Still, the Dow has plunged a long way in the past year – down 5,000 points since last Christmas Eve.
On Dec. 24, 2007, the Dow rose 98.68 to close at 13,549.33.
As they do every year on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, traders at the NYSE stopped for a moment and sang the Depression-era ditty, “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie,” a song about things getting better.
The lyrics say in part, “Wait till the sun shines, Nellie / When the clouds go drifting by / We will be happy, Nellie / Don’t you sigh.”
The markets closed at 1 p.m., and by early afternoon traders had cleared out to Harry’s Café, a Wall Street hangout in Hanover Square.
Gian Russo, Andreas Barsini and Gian Fonacci, three marketing consultants from Milan, Italy, were gleefully bending elbows at the bar.
“We’re happy to help the American economy out by drinking,” said Russo, 31. “Santa won’t be able to help Wall Street, but Obama might be Wall Street’s Santa next year.”
Barsini, 33, said, “We Italians are used to stagnation and corruption. Americans shouldn’t be so sad. New York doesn’t appear any worse for the wear.”
Fonacci, 36, agreed. “It’s the holiday season and Americans shouldn’t complain so much. Wall Street will remain the financial capital of the world. This won’t be the end.”