‘Santa Claus rally’ is here — but can the stock market avoid the ‘Grinch pinch’?

The Dow closed slightly higher on Thursday while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed lower in the second day of a so-called Santa Claus rally period.

Investors are still sitting on a more than 25% gain for the year, and it’s arguable that the frenzied postelection bump pulled forward some of December’s typical gains. Nonetheless, the month’s anemic showing is atypical.