US stocks surge in thin trading day ahead of holidays as Omicron risk fades

• US stocks jumped on Wednesday to near record highs as thin trade during the holiday trading week continued.
• The S&P 500 is now less than 1% away from an all-time high, with the risk of Omicron fading.
• Tesla stock jumped 8% after CEO Elon Musk said he sold another $548 million of the EV maker's shares.
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US stocks surged on Wednesday as the risk of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 faded amid a shortened holiday trading week. The stock and bond markets are closed this Friday.

Stocks snapped a three-day losing streak on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq jumping 2.4%. The tech-heavy index extended its gain by 1% on Wednesday. The Dow leapt 260 points, a day after after soaring 560.

Meanwhile, volatility fell considerably, with the VIX falling 11% below the key 20 level to 18.71. The decline signals more upside ahead for stocks.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 4,696.56, up 1.02%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,753.89, up 0.74%
• Nasdaq Composite: 15,521.89, up 1.18%

Tesla stock jumped 8% after CEO Elon Musk said he sold another $548 million of the EV maker's shares to finally reach his target of selling 10% of his stake.

He is also a skeptic of the Web 3.0/metaverse space and trashed the idea that people want to strap a screen to their face for the entire day.

FTX and Crypto.com plan to run Super Bowl ads next year after both bought the naming rights to professional sports arenas.

The NFT markets continue to stay strong, with sales topping $246 million over the past week. These were the five best-selling digital collections over the past week.

Former President Donald Trump told Fox News that he is not a fan of cryptocurrencies and thinks they could crash in a similar fashion to tech stocks during the dot-com bubble.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele bought 21 bitcoin yesterday, and tweeted "Today is the last 21st day of the year 21 of the 21st century."

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose as much as 2.43% to $72.85 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, rose as much as 1.96% to $75.43 per barrel.

Gold rose as much as 0.92% to $1,805.20 per ounce.