Wall Street ends lower, capping a banner year

Wall Street ends lower, capping a banner year

By Stephen Culp

Tue December 31, 2024 8:06 PM

All three indexes started the day with some decent green only to begin declining almost immediately, going into the red by 11 a.m. and continuing downhill all day. So yes, it was yet another day that Santa Claus was conspicuously absent. Despite ending the year on a whimper, 2024 still had stellar results with the Nasdaq gaining 28.6%, the S&P 23.3% and the Dow 12.9%. The biggest winning sectors were communications, tech, and consumer discretionary, each advancing roughly between 29 and 39%.  

Wall Street ends sharply lower on penultimate trading day of a strong 2024

Wall Street ends sharply lower on penultimate trading day of a strong 2024

By Stephen Culp

Mon December 30, 2024 7:17 PM

In the thin volume that is customary in the final week of the year, a little bit of trading can make a big impact and the big sell off that happened today once again demonstrated that the Santa Claus rally was AWOL with all three indexes notching big losses, the Dow and Nasdaq into serious 3-digit red territory. The good news is that they all started out much worse in the morning, the Dow down over 700 points by 10:30, and then recovered substantially by close. The impact was due to year-end tax positioning as well as worries about what’s coming in 2025, both nationally and globally. 

Wall St finishes down after sell-off at end of strong holiday-shortened week

Wall St finishes down after sell-off at end of strong holiday-shortened week

By David French

Fri December 27, 2024 4:37 PM

The so-called Santa Claus rally took an abrupt reversal today with all the indexes heading well south right out the gate and staying there, both the Dow and Nasdaq suffering deep 3-digit losses. The tech stocks of the Magnificent Seven all took big dives between 2 and 5%. But no worries, there is still one more full week left for Santa Claus, not to mention that today’s massive sell-off was attributed to simple profit-taking as investors rebalance their portfolios heading into the new year. (Wouldn’t this rebalancing happen every year just before the 1^st?) But despite today, all three indexes ended the week with gains. As is typical for the year-end, volume for the shortened holiday week is below the 6-month average and is expected to remain so all next week too. 

DJ: 43,325.80  +28.77       NAS: 20,020.36  -10.77       S&P: 6,037.59  -2.45           12/26

DJ: 42,992.21  -333.59      NAS: 19,722.03  -298.33     S&P: 5,970.84  -66.75         12/27

Fri 12-27-24 4:37 pm Wall St finishes down after sell-off at end of strong holiday-shortened week | Reuters

US stocks tread water in thin trade, benchmark US yield backs off new high

US stocks tread water in thin trade, benchmark US yield backs off new high

By Stephen Culp and Alden Bentley

Thu December 26, 2024 5:11 PM

The Santa Claus rally went on pause today as all three indexes started the session in the red, the Dow down almost 200 points, but then began an almost immediate recovery to break-even around noon and then more or less straddle the flat mark the rest of the day and closing near flat. But no worries as today’s expert put it, “We’re in the Santa Claus rally, with a little bump in the road today, and it’s probably safe to say the year-end rally will continue.”  

Wall Street ends higher as Santa rally begins

Wall Street ends higher as Santa rally begins

By David French

Tue December 24, 2024 4:50 PM

The traditional Santa Claus rally is officially underway with all three indexes shooting straight way up, the fourth straight gain for the Dow and Nasdaq, and third for the S&P. The Magnificent Seven continues to drive the market over continued optimism on the future of tech, especially AI. It was a shortened session with the markets closing at 1 pm and will be closed for Christmas Day.  

DJ: 42,906.95  +66.69      NAS: 19,764.89  +192.29      S&P: 5,974.07  +43.22        12/23

DJ: 43,297.03  +390.08    NAS: 20,031.13  +266.24      S&P: 6,040.04  +65.97        12/24

Tue 12-24-24 4:50 pm Wall Street ends higher as Santa rally begins | Reuters

Wall Street ends higher on gains by most megacaps

Wall Street ends higher on gains by most megacaps

By David French

Mon December 23, 2024 4:40 PM

The day started in the red for all the indexes, only slightly for tech but deeply for the Dow which was down some 300 points this morning. But tech recovered to spend most of the day in the black, the Dow taking most of the day to reach that goal but also closing in the black. We’ve now seen our third straight day of corrections after last Wednesday’s severe sell off, corrections prompted mostly by major gains in the Magnificent Seven, all closing higher and with Meta, Nvidia and Tesla all gaining between 2 and 4%.  

Stocks rally after inflation data but close lower for the week

Stocks rally after inflation data but close lower for the week

By Chuck Mikolajczak

Fri December 20, 2024 4:30 PM

A correction has begun with all three indexes shooting straight up right out the gate, reaching their apex around noon, and staying there the rest of the day. The trigger was a combo PCE report that showed inflation slightly lower than expected and Fed officials indicating a more dovish approach than was announced Wednesday. It was enough to change the odds of 2025 rate cuts from two to three and for the first one to come as early as March instead of June.