Wall Street kicked off the Santa Rally season on a positive note, with all major indices and sectors closing higher in a shortened session ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The S&P 500 climbed 1%, extending its gains for a third consecutive session following last week's volatile Federal Reserve meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 1.3%, nearly erasing last week's losses.

Consumer discretionary stocks, the top-performing sector of the year, led the rally amid light trading volumes. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) surged 7.35%, marking its strongest single-day performance since November.

Other standout performers in the S&P 500 included Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX), and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), up 2.4%, 2.8% and 2.5% respectively.

The U.S. dollar index posted modest gains, with the greenback hovering near over one-year highs against the euro. Treasury yields remained stable, with the 10-year benchmark at 4.6%, the highest level since May.

In commodities, gold edged up 0.4%, while oil prices rose 0.7%.

Risk appetite returned to the cryptocurrency market following recent volatility, as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) jumped 4% to over $98,000. This rally buoyed crypto-related stocks, including Microstrategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR), MARA Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA), and Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), all posting notable gains.

Tuesday's Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose 1.1% to $601.01.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.8% to $432.44.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) rallied 1.3% to $529.94.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rose 1% to $223.46.
• The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) outperformed, up by 2.3%; the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) lagged, up 0.5%.

• Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin Surge Around 5% In Christmas Eve 'Santa Rally'

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