It was a transformation worthy of Ebenezer Scrooge.

After stock markets tumbled on Christmas Eve in the midst of gloomy economic news, investors suddenly became merry today, spurring a record-breaking rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

This basket of big-cap stocks closed Boxing Day up 1,086 points, or about five percent. The S&P 500 also rose five percent and the NASDAQ composite index was up 5.2 percent.

This came after the worst week on Wall Street since the global meltdown of 2008.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was closed on Boxing Day.

Here are how some well-known companies' shares performed:

* Apple up 7.04 percent to close at US$157.17;

* Tilray up 0.17 percent to close at US$71.50;

* ExxonMobil up 4.68 percent to close at US$68.64;

* Amazon up 9.45 percent to close at US$1,470.90;

* Alphabet (Google) up 6.42 percent to close at US$1,047.85;

* and New York Times Co. Class A up 3.51 percent to close at US$22.68.