U.S. stocks ended the holiday week on a downbeat note, marking the conclusion of a year filled with strong performance on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell by 1.5% at Friday’s close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) slipped 0.8%. The 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) remained near a seven-month high, hovering around 4.6%.
After a year of impressive gains, some of the largest tech companies saw declines as investors took profits, rebalanced portfolios, or reassessed the high valuations of these stocks. Tesla (TSLA) lost 5%, Nvidia (NVDA) fell 2%, and Amazon (AMZN) saw a 1% decline.
Despite these losses, Wall Street’s performance for the year has been largely positive, with just three trading days left in 2024. However, the anticipated “Santa Claus” rally has failed to materialize, leaving markets in a sluggish state as the year ends.
The S&P 500 posted a weekly gain of 1.8%, with the Nasdaq also increasing by 1.8% and the Dow rising 1.5%.
सम्बंधित ख़बरें
With most of the year’s major economic data already priced in, investors are now focusing on two key themes for 2025: the Federal Reserve’s plans for interest rates and the potential economic impact of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Regarding the Fed, stocks have largely absorbed the central bank’s plans to scale back interest rate cuts in the coming year, following a brief dip last week. Market expectations are now centered around May as the likely time for the Fed to lower rates, as it continues to tackle persistent inflation while monitoring a softening labor market.
As for Trump, while he has made ambitious economic promises on the campaign trail, Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul notes that these plans may face resistance and scrutiny from other influential figures, leading to potential adjustments as they move closer to implementation.