US Stocks End Shortened Session Higher

Wall Street stocks finished a holiday-shortened session higher on Thursday as a giant US stimulus package remained frozen in place following last-minute criticism from President Donald Trump.

Congressional Republicans blocked a Democratic-backed effort to lift one-time stimulus payments from US$600 to US$2,000 after Trump called for the change and hinted he would veto the bill without improvements.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.2 percent at 30,200.92 following a lightly-traded shortened Christmas Eve session.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 3,703.23, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 percent to 12,804.73.

Investors have shrugged off the latest curveball on the stimulus after months of stalled negotiations on Capitol Hill, viewing the back-and-forth as dealing the bill a delay rather than a mortal blow.

"These are cantankerous political matters, yet the market isn't overly bothered by them because, in its mind, it's a matter of when, not if, a stimulus deal will be passed," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

Among individual companies, US-traded shares of Alibaba plunged 13.4 percent after China launched an anti-monopoly investigation into the e-commerce giant.

Square dipped 1.0 percent following a Bloomberg report it has held talks to buy Jay-Z's Tidal music streaming service. (AFP)