Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on December 10, 2024.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
The S&P 500 rose on Monday to start a holiday-shortened trading week as continued strength in technology stocks helped the broader market.
The large-cap index rose 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which is dominated by technology stocks, rose by 0.6%, and shares of Tesla, Meta, and Nvidia rose by at least 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was relatively weaker, falling by 100 points.
Trading is expected to be relatively quiet during the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday on Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. Eastern time, and the market is closed on Christmas Day.
Weak economic data appeared to have weighed on sentiment earlier in the session. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for December fell to 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, appliances and computers — fell 1.1% in November, the largest month-over-month decline since June. The blue-chip Dow Jones index fell more than 300 points at one point on Monday after the disappointing data.
The market is coming off a rollercoaster ride that saw a 10-day losing streak for the Dow Jones, the longest since 1974. The Dow fell 1,100 points on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled smaller interest rate cuts for 2025 than previously expected. The lower-than-expected inflation reading at the end of the week helped stocks recover some of their losses.
Since the beginning of the month, the 30-stock Dow Jones index has fallen 4.6% in December, while the S&P 500 has fallen 1.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite bucked the downtrend, rising 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 on Saturday that averted a government shutdown. The bill funds federal agencies at current levels for the next three months.
Santa gathering?
Some investors were hoping the so-called Santa Claus rally would help the market end 2024 on a high note, especially after a turbulent week. Dating back to 1969, the S&P 500 added, on average, 1.3% in the last five trading days of the year and the first two days in January, according to Stock Traders Almanac.
The second half of December is also typically the second-strongest period of the year for U.S. stocks, and the S&P 500 is up 83% compared to the December of presidential election years, according to Bank of America.
“As initial bullish market trends continue, we are not giving up on the possibility of Santa Claus coming to Broad & Wall this year,” Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler, said in a note.
