This post was originally published on this site
Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened mixed again on Friday, holding on to Thursday’s gains after hitting new record highs in anticipation of a stimulus package that still remains out of reach.
By 9:35 AM ET (1435 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrialized Average was up 4 points, essentially unchanged, at 30,308 points. The S&P 500 index was down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1%.
Momentum has drained from the market after reports indicating that the long-awaited stimulus package is not likely to be agreed until the weekend, although lawmakers on both sides reiterated after Thursday’s talks that a deal is within reach and that they won’t leave for their holiday recess until a deal is in place.
Traders are bracing for volatility on what is the last day of trading for December options contracts in both single stocks and index products. Such ‘quadruple witching’ days typically get very choppy in the final minutes before settlement, and the big role played by options trading in this year’s rally may lead to a repeat of that. Softbank (OTC:SFTBY), one of the biggest players in the options market this year, has however said it will allow its positions to largely roll off at the end of the day.
Against that backdrop, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock, which has been one of the most actively traded through options all year, rose to a new record high before retracing a little to trade up 2.7%. Big Tech stocks edged slightly lower, as the weight of antitrust actions against the big Internet platform companies began to weigh a little. Another big lawsuit was launched by the Attorneys-General of 38 states against Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) on Wednesday, alleging abuse of its dominant position in the search market.
However, the news wasn’t all bad, as consumer products giant Unilever (NYSE:UL) said it would end its boycott of advertising on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). Facebook stock was nonetheless down 0.6%.
