Stocks Are Set to End Year on a High Note

U.S. stocks are on track to ring out 2003 with their first gains in four years. But with another holiday to shorten the week, stock moves and volume may be so quiet that it will seem like Wall Street is napping.

Both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will be closed New Year’s Day.

On the economic scene, several key reports are due out, including a closely watched barometer of business activity in the Midwest. The Chicago Purchasing Managers index is expected to slip to 62.2 in December from 64.1 in November, according to economists surveyed by Reuters.

The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index, meanwhile, is expected to decline to 61 this month from November’s 62.8, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Levels higher than 50 signal growth. The report is due out Friday.

The initial claims for jobless benefits for the week that ended Saturday may have sunk last week to 350,000, almost a three-year low, economists told both Reuters and Bloomberg. The report is due out Wednesday.