Stock Market Today: Dow futures fall as markets wind down in final trading sessions of 2024

Only eight S&P 500 stocks were in the green in recent trading, according to Dow Jones Market Data. If things don’t improve by the time the closing bell rings, this would be the fewest in any single trading session since September 2022.

Since the start of December, many stocks have struggled, while gains for a handful of megacap names have helped ward off deeper losses for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Earlier this month, the S&P 500 capped off a 14-day streak where the number of declining stocks in the index surpassed the number of gainers, the longest such streak since at least late 1999, according to Dow Jones data.

U.S. stocks were seeing unusual weakness for this time of year.

According to analysts at Bespoke Investment Group, the S&P 500 has never before seen two declines of 1% or more during the final five trading sessions of the year, according to data going back to 1952.

After a strong 2024, this year could mark the first time.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% on Friday, according to FactSet data. And the index was down more than 1.5% shortly after the opening bell on Monday.

The blue-chip Dow’s plunge on Monday to kick off the final two trading days of the year sets up stocks for a cautious January, said Peter Cardillo, chief market strategist at Spartan Capital Securities.

“It’s just a question of a bit of profit taking moving into the New Year, which probably means a cautious attitude until the market figures out what the new administration has in mind in terms of tariffs and fiscal policies,” Cardillo said in a phone interview.

Boeing shares, which were down more than 4%, provided the biggest drag on the Dow on Monday, with mega technology stocks under continued pressure including from Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp. according to FactSet data.

So much for the Santa rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was showing some pretty lackluster performance in the penultimate trading day of the year, trading about 1.5% shortly after the market’s open.

This will close out a particularly weak month for the index. As of Monday morning, the Dow was down about 5.4% for the month of December.

The Dow is on pace for its largest monthly percentage decline since September 2022, and it’s weakest December since 2018.

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Monday to kick off the final two trading days of 2024, even as Treasury yields were in retreat.

The blue-chip Dow was down over 500 points, or 1.2%, near 42,472 in early trade, while the S&P 500 index was 1.3% lower near 5,892 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was 312 lower near 19,412.

For the year, the Dow was up about 13%, the S&P 500 up nearly 23.5% higher and the Nasdaq was up 29% in 2024.

American Airlines Inc.’s stock rose in premarket trades on Monday, after Raymond James upgraded the stock to the equivalent of buy to reflect an improved outlook for revenue and talk of better engagement with corporate customers.

Analysts Savanthi Syth and Carter Eades upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform and assigned it a price target of $24, or 38% above its current price.

“Our earnings forecast includes an improved revenue outlook following the early-December update (albeit, not much incremental revenue assumed from the new co-branded card deal), attractive competitive capacity set up, and anecdotal evidence of improved engagement with contracted corporate customers (albeit, likely at a price),” the analysts wrote in a note to clients Monday.

Stocks are limping over the finish line as traders position for the final two trading days of a surprisingly strong 2024 for equities.

Dow futures were over 400 points lower ahead of the open, but the blue-chip index was still headed for a 14.1% yearly gain.

The bond market will close early at 2 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday in advance of the New Years Eve holiday, while both the stock and bond market will be closed January 1.

U.S. Treasury yields were easing back early Monday in the final gasp of 2024.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was down about 7 basis points to 4.56%, after ending Friday at its highest level since May 29, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

That left the yield on Friday about 1% higher since the Federal Reserve started cutting short-term rates in September. It also helped push up cost for mortgages and other types of debt that help fuel the U.S. economy.

Selling of U.S. index futures has accelerated as the penultimate session of the year looms.

With less than an hour before the opening bell rings on Wall Street, the S&P 500 is in line for a 1% fall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is looking at a 0.8% retreat and the Nasdaq 100 may suffer a 1.1% drop.

The dips come after the S&P 500 closed down 1% on Friday, as investors fretted about high valuations in many technology names as benchmark bond yields rose to 7-month highs .

Monday’s damage is being done by pullbacks in previously buoyant names, such as Tesla, down nearly 3%, and Palantir, which is off more than 3%. Heavyweight Nvidia is falling 2%.

The New York Stock Exchange plans to observe a minute-long moment of silence at 9:20 a.m. Eastern time this morning in honor of President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at 100.

Carter, the U.S.’s 39th president, died at his home in Plains, Ga., where he had entered hospice care in February 2023.

A state funeral is scheduled to be held in Washington on Jan. 9, which will be observed as a National Day of Mourning in the U.S. The Carter Center said late Sunday that public observances in Atlanta and Washington would be followed by a private interment in Plains.

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