Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 10, 2024.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
The S&P 500 opened the holiday-shortened trading week higher on Monday as continued strength in technology stocks helped the broader market.
The large-cap benchmark rose 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.7%, while Tesla, Meta and Nvidia all rose at least 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 65 points, underperforming relatively.
Trading is expected to be relatively calm this week. The New York Stock Exchange will close at 1pm ET on Tuesday for Christmas Eve, and the market will be closed on Christmas Day.
Conditions seemed to have deteriorated slightly in early trading due to weak economic indicators. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for December was 104.7, the lowest level since September, and below the Dow Jones estimate of 113.0. Meanwhile, orders for durable goods (generally big-ticket items such as aircraft, home appliances and computers) fell 1.1% in November, the biggest month-on-month decline since June. Monday’s disappointing data sent the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 300 points at one point.
The market is emerging from a roller coaster that saw the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average suffer its longest 10-day losing streak since 1974. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,100 points Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated it would cut interest rates less in 2025 than previously expected. Lower-than-expected inflation figures released over the weekend helped stocks recover some of their losses.
The Dow 30 has fallen 4.6% since the beginning of the month in December, while the S&P 500 has fallen 1.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index bucked its downward trend and rose 1.8% this month.
Investors were reassured that federal agencies will remain open in the new year after President Joe Biden signed a funding bill Saturday that averts a government shutdown. The bill would fund federal agencies at current levels for the next three months.
Santa gathering?
Some investors had hoped that the so-called Santa Claus rally could help markets end 2024 on a strong note after a particularly turbulent week. Since 1969, the S&P 500 has gained an average of 1.3% in the last five business days of the year and the first two business days of January, according to the Stock Traders Almanac.
The second half of December is also the second-best period of the year for U.S. stocks, with the S&P 500 index up 83% in December during a presidential election year, according to Bank of America.
“The main uptrend in the market remains in place and we are not giving up on the possibility of Santa Claus coming to Broad & Wall this year,” Craig Johnson, chief market technologist at Piper Sandler, said in a note.
