The 'Squawk on the Street' team discuss Thursdays stock market action as investors prepare for the final trading session of 2020. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi Stocks were largely flat on Thursday as Wall Street wrapped up one of the most volatile years for the market in recent memory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded just 26 points lower, or 0.1%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also fell marginally. Chevron was the biggest decliner in the Dow, falling 0.7%. The S&P 500 energy sector slipped 0.6%. The muted move in stocks comes at the end of a relatively quiet week on Wall Street, capping a remarkable year for the stock market. Equities fell sharply in February and March as the Covid pandemic spread outside of China. The S&P 500 suffered its most rapid 30% drawdown on record. But after bottoming out in late March, and amid unprecedented action by the Federal Reserve to shore up the credit markets, stocks rebounded dramatically and have ripped off a series of record highs before the end of year. Ahead of the final session of 2020, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has gained 43.44% year to date, while the S&P 500 and Dow have risen 15.52% and 6.56%, respectively. Those gains came amid sharp daily moves that kept even the most seasoned investors on their toes throughout the year. The S&P 500 closed up or down at least 1% in 110 of this year’s 253 trading days, compared to just 38 days in 2019. Those 110 daily swings include two rallies of more than 9% in March as well as a 12% drop in the same month. Wall Street’s preferred fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility Index, skyrocketed 63% in 2020 and has traded above the 20 level for most of the year. On Thursday, it traded at 22.57. To be sure, the major averages jumped to record highs this month, fueled by the rollout of vaccines and a new economic relief package from Congress. For December alone, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 3.1% and 5.4%, respectively. The Dow is up 2.6% in that time. A rising worry in recent weeks is a new strain of the deadly virus that was first identified in the UK and has been confirmed in Colorado and California. UK officials have said the strain appears to be more contagious than earlier versions of the virus. However, experts and health policy leaders have said that the existing vaccines should be effective against the new strain. Some have also said that companies should be able to adjust the vaccines to work against new strains if that is necessary. Investors digested on Thursday a better-than-expected reading on U.S. weekly jobless claims. The number of first-time unemployment-benefits filers totaled 787,000 for the week ending Dec. 26, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting a print of 828,000. “Although the improvement does not fit with the narrative of intensifying COVID restrictions ... we have to take it at face value,” wrote Thomas Simons, money market economist at Jefferies. “As far as next weeks’ payrolls, they are still likely to be very weak given that initial claims increased between the Dec and Nov survey weeks, and continuing claims posted their smallest decline since June.” » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC » Subscribe to CNBC Classic: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCclassic Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide. The News with Shepard Smith is CNBC’s daily news podcast providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories. Available to listen by 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT daily beginning September 30: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/the-news-with-shepard-smith-podcast.html?__source=youtube%7Cshepsmith%7Cpodcast Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/ Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC Follow CNBC News on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-credit-cards/ #CNBC #CNBCTV