Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange ground on Dec. 18, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
U.S. inventory futures have been comparatively unchanged Monday night time in any case three main averages kicked off the holiday-shortened buying and selling week within the inexperienced.
S&P 500 futures rose about 0.1%, whereas Nasdaq 100 futures traded across the flatline. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average additionally superior 34 factors, or about 0.1%.
This comes amid what is predicted to be a extra toned-down week for buying and selling exercise. On Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange closes early at 1 p.m. ET for Christmas Eve, whereas the bond market closes at 2 p.m. The market can also be closed on Wednesday for Christmas Day.
Monday was a comparatively sparse day of buying and selling, with the S&P 500 rising round 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite closing about 1% increased. The 30-stock Dow additionally completed up almost 0.2%.
Tech names and semiconductors have been among the many huge winners of the day, lifting the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Meta Platforms jumped greater than 2% and Broadcom superior greater than 5%, whereas Nvidia rose 3.7%.
Elsewhere, Honda and Xerox every completed the session greater than 12% increased. The Japanese automaker introduced it has entered into official merger talks with fellow Japanese automaker Nissan. Xerox stated it’s going to buy printer maker Lexmark in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.
That stated, the day was nonetheless affected by weak financial knowledge. The Conference Board’s client confidence index fell to 104.7 in December. The studying missed the Dow Jones estimate of 113.0 and marked the index’s lowest degree since September’s reading of 98.7. Additionally, orders for sturdy items fell 1.1% in November, which is the biggest month-over-month decline since June.
Frost forward for the Santa Claus rally?
With few buying and selling days in retailer, some buyers are hoping for a Santa Claus rally to conclude what has already been a powerful 12 months for the market. And that is not fully out of the atypical. According to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, the S&P 500 has gained 1.3% on average between the final 5 buying and selling days of the 12 months and the primary two in January, courting again to 1969.
But Jay Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Advisors is looking for a little bit of a stall out there over the approaching days. He is sticking along with his year-end 2024 S&P 500 goal of 6,000, which suggests solely a 0.4% enhance for the broad market index from Monday’s shut.
“We would possibly get a Santa Claus rally, however these aren’t that highly effective [of] rallies,” the agency’s CEO instructed CNBC. “We’re impartial in the marketplace.”
