Markets hover near record levels as Wall Street prepares to close early for Christmas holiday

Wall Street was largely unchanged early Wednesday as markets hovered near record levels on a holiday-shortened trading day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1% as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern. The S&P 500 index was up less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1%.

Markets will close at 1 p.m. ET for Christmas Eve and are closed for Christmas. Markets will reopen for a full day of trading on Friday, however volumes are expected to be light this week with the holiday and most investors having closed out their positions for the year.

Much of the focus remains on the state of the U.S. economy and where the Federal Reserve will move interest rates. Investors are betting the Fed will hold steady on interest rates at its January meeting.

Recent reports show high inflation and shaky confidence among consumersworried about high prices. The labor market has been slowing and retail sales have weakened.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week and remain at historically healthy levels despite some signs that the labor market is weakening.

U.S. applications for jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 20 fell by 10,000 to 214,000 from the previous week’s 224,000, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. That’s below the 232,000 new applications forecast of analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

Dynavax Technologies soared 38% after Sanofi said it was acquiring the California-based vaccine maker in a deal worth $2.2 billion. The French drugmaker will add Dynavax’s hepatitis B vaccines to its portfolio, as well as a shingles vaccine that is still in development. Sanofi shares were unchanged in the premarket.

European markets were moving slightly between slight gains and losses. Asian markets were also quiet, with Hong Kong moving up 0.2% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.1%.

Both gold and silver futures were higher, with silver prices rising more than 1%. U.S. crude oil rose 0.4% to %58.61 a barrel.

—Associated Press