US stocks edge higher as political wrangling over stimulus bill continues

• US stocks edged higher in a shortened trading session as political wrangling over a $900 billion stimulus bill continued after President Trump requested $2,000 stimulus checks to be included.
• With Trump out of town after flying to Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to pass an amendment to the bill to include bigger stimulus checks with unanimous consent.
• That attempt has failed, and now the House of Representatives is adjourned until Monday at 2:00PM, leaving it up to Trump to either sign the bill or not.
• Watch major indexes update live here.

US stocks moved higher in a shortened trading session on Christmas Eve as political wrangling over a $900 billion stimulus bill continued into Thursday after President Trump requested $2,000 stimulus checks to be included.

Pelosi attempted to add an amendment to the bill increasing the size stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600 via unanimous consent, but that initiative failed Thursday morning.

Now, the House of Representatives has adjourned until Monday at 2:00 P.M., leaving it up to President Trump to sign the original stimulus bill that passed the House and Senate earlier this week.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 3,695.39, up 0.15%
• Dow Jones industrial average: 30,180.89, up 0.17% (51.06 points)
• Nasdaq composite:12,801.96, up 0.24%

Read more: 'It could be a Roaring 20s that will end badly': An equities chief who oversees over $7 billion shares his investing playbook and major predictions for 2021 and beyond

Alibaba slid as much as 7% after the Chinese government opened an anti-trust investigation into the e-commerce giant.

Altimmune fell 10% after the FDA put a clinical hold on its intranasal COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The stock market will close at 1:00 P.M. today.

Oil prices edged lower. West Texas Intermediate crude fell as much as 0.64%, to $47.81 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, fell 0.59%, to $50.90 per barrel.

Gold traded lower, down as much as 0.23%, to $1,873.70 per ounce.

Read more: A hedge fund chief who oversees $2 billion breaks down why we're in for a 61% stock-market crash over the next 18-24 months - and shares 3 types of companies he's shorting right now