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US stocks were little changed Thursday as trading resumed after the Christmas holiday and Wall Street digested one of the only significant economic data points of the week.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dipped during light volume trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) hovered near the flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) flipped between positive and negative territory.
Small cap stocks inched higher, sending the Russell 2000 (^RUT) up 0.7%.
Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell to hover near the $96,000 level as volatile trading continued. Crypto-linked stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR) tracked the declines.
Markets looked to be struggling in a bid to extend the start of the “Santa Claus rally,” which kicked off with a bang on Tuesday as the S&P 500 notched its best Christmas Eve performance since 1974, according to Bespoke data. The broader index and Nasdaq Composite moved to within striking distance of their records after clawing back gains from a Fed-fueled dive last week.
As Wall Street saunters back from its holiday break, the normally routine release on weekly jobless claims took more of a spotlight than usual as the only piece of the jobs puzzle on the docket this week.
According to the latest Labor Department data, weekly jobless claims fell to 219,000 compared with expectations of 223,000. However continuing claims pointed to a cooling labor market, jumping by 46,000 in the week ending Dec. 14 to 1.91 million, the highest level since November 2021.
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Bitcoin falls to hover near $95,500, but token has still been stellar performer in 2024
Bitcoin was trading 3% lower on Thursday afternoon as prices hovered below the $96,000 level.
The token is down about 10% from its all-time highs north of $108,000 reached over a week ago.
Despite the recent dip, bitcoin is up nearly 120% year-to-date, far outperforming other asset classes like gold or the major stock market averages.
As Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports, 2024 has been a year when everything changed for the cryptocurrency once viewed as a fringe sideshow, a concern for D.C. policymakers and a subject of ridicule for top Wall Street figures.
Crypto’s widespread acceptance this year translated into major gains for investors who were along for the ride.
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Shares of Tesla, Meta slip as major averages hug flatline
Stocks wavered by 1 p.m. ET with the major averages flipping between positive and negative territory.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) hugged the flatline while The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was also little changed.
Shares of EV giant Tesla (TSLA) and social media company Meta (META) both, weighing on the Communication Services and Consumer Discretionary sectors.
Meanwhile chip stock Broadcom (AVGO) rose for a fourth straight day.
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GameStop rises on mysterious ‘Roaring Kitty’ tweet
GameStop (GME) stock rose as much as 10% early Thursday before paring gains. Shares were up roughly 6% midday.
The stock’s gain comes after infamous meme stock trader “Roaring Kitty” — whose real name is Keith Gill — posted a mysterious photo of a wrapped present on Dec. 25.
GME’s climb Thursday puts the stock on track to notch a roughly 16% gain over the past five days. The stock is up over 88% in 2024, fueled by Roaring Kitty’s return to social media after three years of silence.
Still, GameStop shares remain well below all-time highs of over $80 during the stock’s short squeeze in 2021.
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Dow erases early session losses, flips into positive territory
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) erased early session losses by 11:30 a.m. ET.
Shares of Honeywell (HON) and Boeing (BA) rose more than 1%, helping lift the blue-chip index slightly above the flatline.
Apple (AAPL) touched intraday highs after a price target raise to a Street high of $325 from Wedbush analysts Dan Ives.
AI chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) pared early morning losses to trade just below the flatline.
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Apple stock touches intraday high after nod of confidence from Wall Street
Apple (AAPL) stock hit an all-time intraday high Thursday after a nod of confidence in its continued upswing from Wall Street.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives raised his price target on Apple shares to a new Street high of $325, anticipating “a golden era of growth” for the Tim Cook-helmed tech giant in 2025.
Apple stock touched $260 early Thursday before modestly paring gains. The stock was still on track to notch another record close after hitting a high of $258.20 on Christmas Eve. Shares have rallied more than 11% over the past month, and the iPhone maker is nearing a $4 trillion market cap.
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Nvidia dips 1% as rest of ‘Mag 7’ stocks waver
Shares of AI chip heavyweight (NVDA) fell more than 1% while the rest of the “Magnificent Seven” stocks wavered on Thursday.
Technology stocks led the modest market declines as the “Santa Claus rally” from Wednesday took a pause after the Christmas holiday break.
Shares of iPhone maker Apple (AAPL) and Google parent company Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) flipped between positive and negative territory during morning trading.
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From Microsoft to Nvidia, the AI agents are coming in 2025
Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:
If 2024 was the year of AI chatbots becoming more useful, 2025 will be the year AI agents begin to take over. Autonomous and semi-autonomous AI systems, you can think of agents as super powered AI bots that can take actions on your behalf, such as pulling data from incoming emails and importing it into different apps.
You’ve probably heard rumblings of agents already. Companies ranging from Nvidia (NVDA) and Google (GOOG, GOOGL) to Microsoft (MSFT) and Salesforce (CRM) are increasingly talking up agentic AI, a fancy way of referring to AI agents, claiming that it will change the way both enterprises and consumers think of AI technologies.
Read more here.
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Stocks edge lower, putting a pause on Santa Claus rally
Stocks opened lower on Thursday following a Christmas break, putting a pause on a Santa Claus rally.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was down 0.3% while the the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) declined 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lost 0.4%, leading the way down.
All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 were lower, with Real Estate stocks leading to the downside.
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