Wall Street closes book on wild 2020 | Jobless claims fall | McConnell doesn't budge on bigger stimulus checks

Wall Street closed out a wild year of trading with two major stock indexes hitting fresh record highs. 

VIEW IN BROWSER | SUBSCRIBE THU, DEC 31, 2020 EVENING BRIEF AS OF THU, DEC 31, 2020 • 04:35 ET DJIA 30606.48 +0.65% +196.92 S&P 500 3756.07 +0.64% +24.03 NASDAQ 12888.28 +0.14% +18.28   Most Active DOW NAME LAST CHG %CHG AAPL 132.69 -1.03 -0.77% INTC 49.82 +1.07 +2.19% MSFT 222.42 +0.74 +0.33% S&P 500 NAME LAST CHG %CHG AAPL 132.69 -1.03 -0.77% AAL 15.77 -0.38 -2.35% TSLA 705.67 +10.89 +1.57% NASDAQ NAME LAST CHG %CHG AAPL 132.69 -1.03 -0.77% TSLA 705.67 +10.89 +1.57% INTC 49.82 +1.07 +2.19%   EDITOR'S NOTE Wall Street closed out a wild year of trading with two major stock indexes hitting fresh record highs.    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 196.92 points, or 0.7% to 30,606.48, a record. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% to end the day at a closing all-time high of 3,756.07. Still, the moves that took both market benchmarks to those levels were small compared to some of the sharp daily swings experienced throughout 2020.   The S&P 500 closed up or down at least 1% in 110 of this year's 253 trading days, compared to just 38 days in 2019. Those 110 daily swings include two rallies of more than 9% in March as well as a 12% drop in that same month.   At one point, the S&P 500 was down more than 30% this year before closing out 2020 with a 16.3% gain.   "To use an overused word, this has been unprecedented," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. "We've never had to deal with anything like this."   "If Rip Van Winkle woke up today, he would say, 'what a great year; we're up 15%. You can't beat that,'" Stovall added. "Then he'd open his statements and see the S&P 500 lost 20% in the first quarter, and then rose the exact same 20% in the second quarter he'd think there was a bug in the system. He'd be right, it was Covid."   Catch The News with Shepard Smith at 7 p.m. ET on CNBC. The nightly newscast provides deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day's most important stories. Fred Imbert | CNBC Markets Reporter @foimbert TOP NEWS  Dow rises nearly 200 points, hits record high to wrap up wild 2020 Covid live updates: Holidays boost air travel to pandemic highs; NYC aims to vaccinate 1 million next month McConnell refuses to budge on $2,000 stimulus checks as Schumer offers separate votes on other Trump demands When workers can expect to receive the new $300 unemployment boost Dr. Fauci says slow Covid vaccine rollout has been 'disappointing' Trump and first lady Melania will return to White House, skip New Year's bash at Mar-a-Lago Your second stimulus check may be delayed if you changed your bank or moved Weekly jobless claims fall for a second straight week Snowflake, Peloton and other IPO stocks are struggling this week. How to trade the weakness The best money market account that helps you save and gives you ATM, debit card access   TOP VIDEO How the U.S. can speed up vaccine delivery, according to Premier's Mike Alkire   CNBC PRO These dividend stocks have double-digit upside, Wall Street analysts say   SPECIAL REPORTS First cases of a new Covid strain have been identified in the US—Here's what's known so far Often overlooked, Asian American Christian voters could be key in Georgia Senate runoffs   Unsubscribe Manage Newsletters Terms of Service Join the CNBC Panel Digital Products Feedback Privacy Policy   © 2020 CNBC LLC. All rights reserved. A property of NBCUniversal. 900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes and Market Data and Analysis. Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS