The stock exchanges in New York are closed on Wednesday with remarkably strong profits. These are the strongest price rises on Wall Street in three years. The stock market also shot up in Japan, the Nikkei index rose by 3.9 percent.

The Dow-Jones index ended 5 percent higher at 22,878.45 points. The broad S & P 500 climbed 5 percent to 2,467.70 points and the technology counselor Nasdaq rose 5.8 percent to 6,554.35 points. Tuesday the market remained closed for Christmas.

The stock markets went up so fast because traders went hunting for bargains after the heavy price losses of the past few times and good figures came out about US consumer spending for the holiday season.

Investors were still chewing on the partial shutdown of the American government. This was caused by disagreement about a new budget. President Donald Trump insists that money for the construction of a wall on the American-Mexican border should be included there. Democratic politicians do not agree with that.

Furthermore, the continued criticism of Trump on the Federal Reserve and Fed chairman Jerome Powell remained above the market. Trump has also expressed his confidence in the central bank and Powell, but remains critical of the policy of interest rate increases.

Trump would have played with the idea last week to dismiss Powell, although that message was denied by the White House.

Oil prices showed exceptional gain

Retail companies benefited from strong sales figures over the holidays. For example, Walmart, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Kohl’s scored up to 10.3 percent in the plus. Amazon climbed 9.5 percent. The webshop claimed never to have sold so many items.

Among other things, the demand for the Echo devices with which Amazon’s smart assistant Alexa could be used, attracted. Tens of millions of people also joined Amazon Prime subscription service.

Oil prices showed exceptional movements. Brent oil reached less than 50 dollars for the first time in almost a year and a half, but later the price rose sharply. Brent was more than 9 percent more expensive at $ 55.17 per barrel.

American oil went up more than 10 percent to $ 46.86. Oil companies ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips increased to almost 8 percent.

The euro was worth $ 1.1350, against $ 1.1409 at the European slot Monday.