Stock Market News for Jan 3, 2025

U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday in a choppy trading session, getting off to a rocky start to 2025 as the losses suffered at the end of 2024 extended into January. All three major indexes ended in negative territory.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) slid 0.4% or 151.95 points, to finish at 42,392.27, recording its fourth straight day of losses.

The S&P 500 declined 0.2% or 13.08 points, to close at 5,868.55 points. Real estate, consumer discretionary and materials stocks were the biggest losers. However, energy stocks gained.

The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) declined 0.9%, while the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) fell 1.1% and 1.3%, respectively. Seven of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq gave up 0.2% or 30 points to end at 19,280.79 points.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 3.34% to 17.93. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.14-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.2-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues. A total of 15.01 billion shares were traded on Thursday, higher than the last 20-session average of 14.92 billion.

It turned out to be a solid 2024 for Wall Street but the final days of December ended on a sour note for stocks. On Monday, the first trading session of 2025, stocks pulled back further as investors weighed in solid labor market data.

The Dow initially jumped more than 300 points on Monday but retreated from its session highs after some time, to end in the red. The blue-chip index has now ended lower for four consecutive sessions, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower for fight straight sessions.

If the losses continue, the Santa Claus rally will fail to materialize. The Santa Claus rally is described as stocks rising in the final five days of December. All three major indexes have climbed an average 1.3% during this period and have ended higher 80% of the time since 1950. However, this year’s rally might get spoilt because of the continued loss.

On Monday, Apple Inc. (AAPL) weighed on the market, with its shares declining 2.6%. Also, shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) finished 6.1% lower after the company’s deliveries declined in 2024. Tesla has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Bond yields also went through volatility on Thursday. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.6% before cooling off.

The holiday-shortened week saw not much economic data getting released. However, investors kept a close watch on the weekly jobless claims data.