Wall Street Extends Losing Streak as Nasdaq and S&P 500 Hit Five-Day Decline
Stocks slipped on the first trading day of 2025 to extend Wall Street’s swoon from December in an opening on Thursday that was volatile in nature. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to close at 42,392.27, the S&P 500 shed 0.22% to finish the day at 5,868.55, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.16% to 19,280.79. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both set for their fifth straight decline, the longest stretch since April 2024.
In the morning, the Dow rose over 300 points following the opening of trading. Gains, however, reversed sharply as the Dow swung 700 points from its high to its low. Weighing on the indices were the declines in heavyweight stocks such as Apple (AAPL, Financial) -2.6% and Tesla (TSLA, Financial) -6%, whose annual vehicle deliveries for the company were in rare decline. Nvidia helped prop up some tech sector losses with a 3% gain.
A ‘Santa Claus rally,’ when the S&P 500 often rallies in the final days of December and early January, is also thrown into question by the S&P 500’s losing streak. Fed giving liquidity and slashing rates is taking a lot out of the economy, which is weighing on investors with high valuations and changing sentiment following the S&P 500’s 23% bull run in 2024.
The 10-year Treasury yield also spiked to nearly 4.6% early Tuesday before retreating in bond markets. Liz Young of SoFi is among analysts who say that investors may be able to find opportunities in cash and bonds while abiding by better stock valuations.
More economic data is coming, but early jobless claims offered a bit of relief, dropping week over week.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
