Stock market today: Dow ekes out gains, bitcoin slumps as 'Santa Claus' rally takes a pause

US stocks struggled to meaningfully extend a "Santa Claus" rally the day after Christmas while Wall Street digested one of the only significant economic data points of the week.

The S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) fell below the flatline while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) fell slightly. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) closed the session up 28 points after flipping between positive and negative territory throughout the light trading session.

Small cap stocks inched higher, sending the Russell 2000 (^ RUT ) up 0.9%.

Meanwhile, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) fell to hover near the $96,000 level as volatile trading continued. Crypto-linked stocks like MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) tracked the declines.

Markets kicked off the "Santa Claus" rally on Tuesday as the S&P 500 notched its best Christmas Eve performance since 1974, according to Bespoke. The broader index and Nasdaq Composite moved to within striking distance of their records after clawing back gains from a Fed-fueled dive last week.

As Wall Street saunters back from its holiday break, the normally routine release of weekly jobless claims took more of a spotlight than usual as the only piece of the jobs puzzle on the docket this week.

According to the latest Labor Department data, weekly jobless claims fell to 219,000 compared with expectations of 223,000. However continuing claims pointed to a cooling labor market, jumping by 46,000 in the week ending Dec. 14 to 1.91 million, the highest level since November 2021.