In front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, New York, on the day U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate him being named Time magazine's Person of the Year. A Christmas tree stands. December 12, 2024.
Adam Gray | Reuters
Stocks fell on Friday, led by technology stocks, but major indexes remained positive for a holiday week.
Excellent company Dow Jones Industrial Average It fell 333.59 points (0.77%) to 42,992.21, the first decline in six sessions. of S&P500 It fell 1.11% to 5,970.84. of Nasdaq Composite It fell 1.49% to 19,722.03. tesla down about 5%, Nvidia It fell 2%.
Still, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 0.4% for the week, ending a three-week losing streak. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% this week after posting its best Christmas Eve performance since 1974 on Tuesday, according to Bespoke. The Nasdaq outperformed slightly this week, rising nearly 0.8%.
This week's rise in U.S. Treasury yields may have weighed on stock prices. Benchmark yield 10 year treasury Interest rates rose more than 4 basis points to 4.627% on Friday, after hitting their highest level since May in the previous session.
“I think what you're seeing today is a lack of belief,” Alan Rechtschaffen, senior portfolio manager at UBS Global Wealth, told CNBC's “Money Movers.” “I think there's a lot of noise about tariffs and a lot of concern about productivity.”
Some investors remain hopeful that the so-called Santa Claus rally will lift stocks into the new year. This refers to the market's upward trend during the last five business days of the year and the first two days of January. Over this period since 1950, the S&P 500 has returned an average of 1.3%, beating the market's seven-day average return of 0.3%, according to LPL Financial.
“The nation can breathe a sigh of relief as we weather a contentious election cycle and unusual market trends to end 2024 with significant year-to-date gains,” said Todd Ahlsten, chief investment officer at Parnassus Investments. It's on,” he said. “Looking to 2025, the market is expected to expand and improve.”
The Nasdaq is on pace to gain 2.6% in December, boosted by a surge in Tesla and Alphabet shares and a rally in Apple, which has pushed the iPhone maker's market cap closer to $4 trillion. The S&P 500 fell 1% month-over-month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 4.3%, its worst pace since April.
