Stocks ended lower Thursday as markets finished the first trading day of the new year on a down note.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to end the day 42,392.27, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.22% to close at 5,868.55 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gave up 0.16% to finish the session at 19,280.79.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have now fallen for five-straight sessions, their longest losing streaks since April, according to CNBC.
While a four-day losing streak into year-end has jeopardized the so-called, Santa Claus Rally, Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial said that longer-term momentum remains strong.
"The S&P 500 wrapped up 2024 with an impressive 23.3% price return," he said. "This ranks as the 18th-best year for the index since 1950."
Updated at 12:03 PM EST
Holding gains
Stocks are holding onto slim gains heading into the mid-day session, with the S&P 500 up 20 points, or 0.34% and the Nasdaq last marked 98 points, or 0.5% higher
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were last up 6 basis points higher on the session at 4.593%, with 2-year notes trading at 4.260%
Despite economic discontent and election uncertainty, the U.S. stock market soared in 2024, with the "Magnificent Seven" driving over half of the S&P 500's 25% gain. Nvidia surged 171%, fueling 20% of the index's return. Excluding tech, the S&P rose just 11%. pic.twitter.com/t9ni2yaj2U
— Statista (@StatistaCharts) January 2, 2025
Updated at 11:13 AM EST
King dollar
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global peers, soared to a fresh two-year high in early trading as investors pare bets on 2025 rate cuts and dump foreign currency holdings in underperforming markets.
The index topped the 109 mark for the first time since November of 2022 Thursday, as was last seen trading 0.63% higher on the session at 109.174.
U.S. Dollar Index $DXY jumps to highest level in almost 26 months 📈🇺🇸 Unstoppable!! pic.twitter.com/ShaKRXqcaC
— Barchart (@Barchart) January 2, 2025
Updated at 9:38 AM EST
Mixed start
The S&P 500 was marked 10 points, or 0.17% higher in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq slipping 6 points, or 0.03%.
The Dow gained 198 points while the mid-cap Russell 2000 rose 15 points, or 0.67%.
SPX still -1.0% for the Santa Claus Rally period through today's open pic.twitter.com/mWRWl0wyF1
— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) January 2, 2025
Updated at 9:14 AM EST
Two Tesla records
Tesla shares moved lower after the EV maker posted its first-ever annual delivery decline even as it shifted a record number of units over the final three months of the year.
Tesla delivered an all-time high of 495,570 new cars over the three months ending in December, the company said, up 2.2% from the then-record tally of 484,507 reached over the same period in 2023.
Tesla shares were marked 3.03% lower in premarket trading immediately following the delivery data to indicate an opening bell price of $391.60 each.
$TSLA posted 4Q deliveries of 495.6K +2.3% YoY vs WS consensus of 506.8K. FY’2024 deliveries were 1,789.2K -1.1% YoY. 4Q production was 459.4K. We estimate 4Q inventory represented approx 12 days of sales outstanding. TSLA deployed 11.1 GWh of energy storage products in 4Q,… pic.twitter.com/mW6rQDfBYq
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) January 2, 2025
Updated at 8:35 AM EST
Job strength
Around 211,000 Americans filed for new unemployment benefits last week, according to the latest data from the Labor Department, a lighter-than-expected tally that suggests solid job market momentum into the new year.
The weekly tally, which was around 9,000 lower than the prior period, pegs the four-week average at around 223,250. Continued claims, which act as a proxy for how long it takes for those who've lost their job to find a new one, fell by 52,000 to 1.844 million.
Stocks extended gains in the wake of the release, with futures tied to the S&P 500 suggesting a 54 point opening bell gain and the Nasdaq called 240 points higher.
US Initial Jobless Claims Dec 28th: 211K (est 221K; prev 219K; prevR 220K)
— LiveSquawk (@LiveSquawk) January 2, 2025
- Continuing Claims Dec 21st: 1844K (est 1890K; prev 1910K; prevR 1896K)
Updated at 7:07 AM EST
Mortgage rise
U.S. mortgage rates moved back toward the 7% mark into the end of last year, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association indicated, as bond markets continue to price in few Federal Reserve interest rate cuts over the coming months.
The MBA said the benchmark fixed 30-year rate for conforming mortgages rose 8 basis points (0.08 percentage point) to 6.97% over the week ended Dec. 27, with purchases, refinancings and overall activity declining as a result.
🇺🇸 United States MBA 30-Year Mortgage Rate $USD
— PiQ (@PiQSuite) January 2, 2025
Actual: 6.97%
Previous: 6.75%
Stock Market Today
Stocks closed out an otherwise exceptional year on a down note Tuesday, with the S&P 500 slipping 25 points to trim its fourth-quarter gain to around 2.1%. That still left the benchmark more than 23% higher for the year and marked the strongest set of back-to-back gains for domestic stocks since 1998.
Market focus now will quickly shift to the start of fourth-quarter earnings season later this month, as well as to December jobs data next week, which will begin to fill in the holes of the Federal Reserve's now-cautious outlook on interest rates.
A notable portion of that caution, of course, is tied to the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn into office on Jan. 20.
"Our four keys to a strong stock market in 2025 include economic growth (no recession), an accommodative Fed, strong profits from corporate America, and fiscal and regulatory policy from the Trump administration that helps more than it hurts," said Jeffrey Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial.
"We expect stocks to move modestly higher next year while acknowledging reasonable upside and downside scenarios," he added.
In the meantime, investors are likely to track any moves in the Treasury market, which saw benchmark 10-year note yields ease to 4.533% heading into the close of the year after they topped 4.6% in late December.
Related: Gangbuster S&P 500 returns depend on one crucial thing in 2025
Benchmark 2-year notes, meanwhile, were last marked at 4.215% heading into the start of the New York trading session while the dollar index was pegged just shy of a two-year peak against its global peers at 108.462.
On Wall Street, stock futures suggest a solid start to the year, despite overnight weakness in Europe and Asia, with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 indicating a 43-point opening-bell gain.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which posted a fourth-quarter gain of just 0.5%, are priced for a 244-point boost while the Nasdaq is expected to open 190 points higher after its 2024 advance of 28.6%.
Stocks in focus include Tesla (TSLA) , which will report fourth-quarter-delivery figures prior to the start of trading and following the explosion of a Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, which killed the driver and injured several bystanders.
More Economic Analysis:
- US stocks rule as bull market bets highlight 'American exceptionalism'
- Veteran analyst who predicted the S&P 500's rally unveils target for 2025
- Trump's plans will test Fed interest rate cut bets in 2025
In Europe, the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark edged 0.2% lower in Frankfurt to start the year, while Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.03% higher in London thanks in part to solid gains for crude and commodities stocks.
Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 remained closed for New Year celebrations in Tokyo, while the regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark slipped 0.44% into the close of trading.
Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025
