A Christmas tree stands in front of the New York Stock Exchange on the day U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to ring the opening bell at the NYSE to celebrate being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, in New York City, New York, on Dec. 12, 2024.
Adam Gray | Reuters
Stocks declined on Friday, led by technology names, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average erasing earlier gains in the holiday-shortened week.
The blue-chip Dow shed more than 500 points, falling for the first time in six sessions. The S&P 500 fell 1.6% with all 11 sectors in the red. The Nasdaq Composite slid 2.2% as Tesla dropped 5%, and Nvidia declined more than 3%. Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet each fell at least 2%.
With Friday’s sell-off, the Dow turned negative on the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq sat near flat. The S&P 500 is up just 0.2% this week after posting its best Christmas Eve performance since 1974 on Tuesday, according to Bespoke.
A rise in Treasury yields this week could be putting pressure on equities. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose another 2 basis points Friday to 4.603% after the rate hit its highest level since May in the previous session.
“I think what you’re seeing today is a lack of faith,” Alan Rechtschaffen, UBS Global Wealth senior portfolio, said on CNBC’s “Market Movers.” “I think there’s a lot of noise about tariffs, there’s a lot of concern about productivity.”
Still, some investors remain hopeful that stocks will rise into the new year, spurred by the so-called “Santa Claus rally.” This refers to the market’s tendency to rise in the final five trading days of the year and the first two in January. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has returned 1.3% on average during this period, outpacing the market’s average seven-day return of 0.3%, according to LPL Financial.
“The nation is experiencing a collective sigh of relief after navigating through a contentious election cycle and unusual market dynamics to end 2024 with strong year-to-date gains,” said Todd Ahlsten, chief investment officer at Parnassus Investments. “Looking ahead to 2025, the markets are expected to broaden and improve.”
In December, the Nasdaq is on pace for a 2% advance, lifted by a jump in Tesla and Alphabet shares, as well as by a rally in Apple that’s brought the iPhone maker closer to a $4 trillion market cap. The S&P 500 is down 1.5% on the month. The Dow is on pace for its worst month since April, with a roughly 4.7% decline.
29 of 30 Dow stocks are down
The Dow slid on Friday.
All but one of the 30 Dow stocks are in the red on Friday, with the newer tech stocks leading the declines.
Nvidia was the worst performing Dow stock in afternoon trading, down 2.6%. Microsoft and Amazon were also down more than 2%.
The one positive outlier on the day is Boeing, which was holding on to a gain of 0.3%. The aerospace manufacturer has been one of the worst performers in the Dow in 2024, along with Nike.
— Jesse Pound
Megacap tech among Friday’s worst performers
Megacap technology stocks were among the worst performers during Friday’s session.
Nvidia slumped about 3%, while Amazon, Broadcom, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet and Meta Platforms dropped at least 2% each. Tesla shed about 5%.
The group is on pace for a mixed week-to-date performance, with Nvidia, Tesla and Meta Platforms on track for gains, with Broadcom up more than 8%. Microsoft has slumped more than 2%, while Amazon is down 1.5%.
Broadcom shares have surged nearly 48% this month and are poised to notch their best month on record.
— Samantha Subin
Stocks making the biggest midday moves: Red Cat Holdings, Rigetti Computing and more
These are the stocks moving the most in midday trading:
- Red Cat Holdings — The drone stock plunged nearly 10%. It was previously trading higher on Friday morning, adding onto its massive year-to-date rally of 1,275%.
- Rigetti Computing — The quantum computing stock soared 10%, adding to the sector’s robust end-of-year rally.
- Honda — The automaker added 1%, extending gains after announcing earlier this week that it officially began merger talks with fellow Japanese carmaker Nissan.
Read the full list of stocks moving here.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Biggest outflows from stocks since December 2022
Equities saw the biggest outflows this past week with investors yanking more than $35 billion, the biggest exodus since December 2022, according to data from Bank of America.
It also marked a big reversal from the week prior, where equities experienced a record $62 billion inflow, the firm’s data said.
— Yun Li
AT&T among the names added to Citi’s focus list heading into 2025
People walk past an AT&T store on April 01, 2024, in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
AT&T may be poised for outperformance over the next year, according to Citi.
The stock was recently added to the firm’s focus list that contains its bottom-up, highest conviction ideas for North America. Shares have already outperformed the broader market this year, rising more than 36% year to date.
For AT&T, analyst Michael Rollins believes the market is underappreciating the company’s opportunity to sustain strong annual performance in its mobility segment as well as expand financial contributions within its consumer wireline segment.
“AT&T has a multi-year opportunity to deepen its focus on converged mobile + broadband services and improve financial performance,” he wrote in a recent note to clients.
Medical device maker Boston Scientific was another name added to the list. That stock has also outperformed the broader market, notching year-to-date gains of nearly 57%.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Sean Conlon
South Korea-tied stocks retreat
iShares MSCI South Korea ETF, 1-day
Those drops came after acting President Han Duck-soo was impeached. It comes just weeks after former President Yoon Suk Yeol faced the same fate following his decision to place the country under martial law for the first time in more than four decades.
— Alex Harring, Ruxandra Iordache
Bank ETF heads for best year since 2013
The Invesco KBW Bank ETF has rallied nearly 35% this year, putting the fund on pace for its best year since 2013.
To hold this milestone, the ETF needs to finish higher than 34.7% on the year. Otherwise, the fund would notch its best year since 2021.
Goldman Sachs is the biggest winner in the index, up more than 50% and on track for its best year since 2009, Bank of New York Mellon, Wells Fargo, First Horizon and JPMorgan have surged at least 40% each.
The S&P 500 banking and regional banking sectors are both headed for their best year since 2021.
— Samantha Subin, Gina Francolla
Stocks making moves before the bell
Check out the stocks making big moves in the premarket:
- Rigetti Computing, Quantum Computing, D-Wave Quantum – Stocks tied to quantum computing were surging in premarket trading, building on a strong year-end rally for the budding industry. Shares of Rigetti rose 27%, while D-Wave Quantum’s stock jumped 5% and Quantum Computing shares added almost 8%.
- KULR Technology Group – The stock added more than 11%. On Thursday, shares of the space technology company soared more than 40% after it said it bought 217.18 bitcoin worth about $21 million. The purchase was the company’s first since its announcement of a new bitcoin treasury initiative on Dec. 4, when bitcoin topped $100,000 for the first time.
- Amedisys, UnitedHealth – Shares of Amedisys rose more than 4%, while UnitedHealth was marginally lower after a filing revealed that the companies entered into a new waiver agreement, extending the deadline for closing their $3.3 billion merger. The new deadline is 10 days after a final court decision is issued in the lawsuit or on Dec. 31, 2025, whichever is earlier.
Read here for the full list.
— Sean Conlon
Berkshire bought more shares of Verisign
Igor Golovniov | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Berkshire Hathaway bought 143,424 more shares of internet name Verisign for roughly $28.5 million through transactions from Friday to Tuesday, according to a regulatory filing.
The Omaha-based conglomerate now owns 13.7% of Verisign, a company that provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure. Berkshire had purchased some shares earlier in the month.
Verisign has also had a disappointing year, with its stock down more than 1% in 2024, significantly underperforming the tech sector. Berkshire first bought the tech stock in 2013 and hasn’t adjusted the stake in years.
— Yun Li
European stocks rise
Stocks in Europe edged higher on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index up 0.2% at 8:25 a.m. London time.
Friday is the first full trading session for major European indexes after closures over the Christmas holiday.
Investors were reacting to disappointing economic data out of China, with official figures showing industrial profits in the world’s second-biggest economy contracted for the fourth consecutive month in November.
Mining stocks were among those in negative territory, while autos and health-care stocks led gains.
— Chloe Taylor
S&P 500 likely to rally another 16% in 2025, Capital Economics markets economist says
The S&P 500 is likely to end next year near 7,000, or nearly 16% above where the index closed Thursday, according to a forecast reiterated by Capital Economics chief markets economist John Higgins between last week’s Fed meeting and Christmas.
The London-based researcher is sticking with the projection even though “we think Fed policy will be a bit less accommodative than we had previously projected,” and a sell-off in bonds drove last week’s weakness in stocks.
The sanguine view is based on a belief that “the 10-year TIPS yield — which is typically used as a proxy for this risk-free component because equities are ‘real’ assets — won’t end next year higher than it is now,” Higgins wrote.
“What’s more, we still aren’t expecting a major deficit-financed fiscal expansion in the U.S. that could bring out the bond vigilantes and drive up Treasury term premia substantially from still-low levels by the standards of the past,” Capital Economics said. In addition, forward 12-months earnings per share for the S&P 500 “will continue to grow a bit next year.”
— Scott Schnipper
Stock futures open Thursday little changed
Stock futures were marginally lower Thursday evening shortly after 6 p.m. ET.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 22 points, hovering just below flat. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures each dipped less than 0.1%.
The three major U.S. indexes have posted strong gains during this holiday-shortened trading week.
— Pia Singh