Carlos Ghosn is on the lam in Lebanon, stocks start 2020 up and more in Thursday’s Closing Bell on Money & Markets.

While the U.S. markets were up on the first trading day of the new year, the news was dominated by former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and his late-night escape from Japan.

Ghosn jumped bail in Japan by secretly flying to his native Lebanon on Dec. 31. The news was compounded Thursday when Interpol issued a wanted notice to Lebanese officials for Ghosn — who fled charges of financial misconduct in Japan.

The Red Notice is a nonbinding request to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a wanted fugitive. So far, Lebanon has not received an extradition request for Ghosn from Japan, according to Albert Serhan, Lebanon’s minister of justice.

Money and Markets: Closing Bell

S&P 500: 3,257 (+17 points, +0.8%)
DOW: 28,868 (+330 points, +1.1%)
NASDAQ: 9,092 (+119 points, +1.3%)
GOLD: $1,528.49* (+8.99, +0.6%)
BITCOIN: $6,938.56* (-3.9%)
U.S. 10-YEAR YIELD: 1.87%
*as of 4:18 p.m. EST

Golden Nuggets

Gold prices continued to climb Thursday despite gains in the U.S. stock market. The gains came after the precious metal closed out its biggest year since 2010.

The metal was up to $1,529.20 on afternoon trading — topping the $1,525.20 it reached on Tuesday.

Silver, copper, platinum and palladium were all also up Tuesday.

Cannabis Corner

Top cannabis companies gave back some gains made Monday — the last trading day of 2019 — on Thursday.

Advisorshares Pure Cannabis ETF (NYSE: YOLO) was down 2.2% in afternoon trading Thursday, but the exchange-traded fund wasn’t the only one. Altria Group (NYSE: MO), Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) and Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) were also down as much as 1.5%, 4.8% and 6%, respectively, Thursday.

The drop came a day after Illinois became the 11th state to officially legalize the sale of recreational marijuana

Stock Market Update

The S&P 500 closed up 0.8% to 3,257 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 330 points, or 1.1%, to 28,868. The Nasdaq composite gained 1.3%.

If you missed it in our Wall Street Wake-Up this morning, Anixter International Inc. (NYSE: AXE) was listed as a stock to watch today. Well, shares of the wire and cable company were up a little more than 3% in afternoon trading because of its deal with Clayton, Dubilier and Rice LLC.

In other news, U.S. mortgage rates dropped slightly this week.

The 30-year fixed-rate dropped to 3.72% from 3.74% last week while the 15-year fixed slipped to 3.16% from 3.19%. The five-year adjustable rate ticked up to 3.46%.

Today’s Big Winners:

(as of 3:15 p.m. EST)

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (Nasdaq: AMD) +7%

Trip.com Group Ltd. (Nasdaq: TCOM) +10%

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) +1.8%

Baidu Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU) +8.7%

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) +2.3%

Today’s Big Losers:

(as of 3:15 p.m. EST)

Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM) -5.3%

Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE: IRM) -4.8%

Incyte Corp. (Nasdaq: INCY) -2%

Kraft Heinz Co. (Nasdaq: KHC) -1.7%

Dow Inc. (NYSE: DOW) -1.7%

Check back for the most important news and numbers each day after the Closing Bell, only on Money and Markets. 

Don’t forget about “Marijuana Markets: a POTcast,” featuring the biggest cannabis news and investment notes from Banyan Hill’s Anthony Planas, here on Money and Markets each Saturday morning.