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U.S. stocks finished higher on Tuesday to kick off the so-called Santa Claus rally period in a holiday-shortened session for Christmas Eve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 390 points, or 0.9%, to end near 43,297, according to preliminary data from FactSet. The blue-chip index rose for four straight days, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The S&P 500 was up 1.1%, to finish around 6,040.
The Nasdaq Composite finished up 1.4%, at around 20,031.
The Santa Claus rally got off to a good start. Tuesday marked the first day of the so-called Santa rally period, in which stocks tend to rise during the final five trading sessions of a year and the first two in January.
Since 1950, the S&P 500 has generated average and median returns of 1.3% during this period, widely outpacing the market’s average seven-day return of 0.3%, according to LPL Financial.
Nvidia’s stock rose 0.4% to a fourth-straight gain, and also closed above a closely watched technical hurdle.
The stock closed at $140.22, while its 50-day moving average extended to $139.78, according to FactSet. That was the first close above the 50-DMA, which many chart watchers view as a short-term trend tracker, since Dec. 11.
Through Monday, Nvidia’s stock had been the only one of the Magnificent Seven tech giants to close below its 50-DMA.
At the stock’s recent closing low of $128.91 on Nov. 18, the stock was 13.4% below its Nov. 7 record close of $148.88. After running up 8.8% during its 4-day win streak, the stock was 5.8% below its record close.
U.S. stocks were higher in the final hour of trading on Tuesday, on pace to finish the holiday-shortened session on a positive note.
The S&P 500 was rising 0.9% as of 12:15 p.m. Eastern time, aided by an advance of over 2% in the consumer discretionary sector. Shares of Tesla were up 5.1%, while Starbucks Corp.’s stock was up 2.3%.
The S&P 500’s financials sector was popping over 1%, while the tech-heavy information technology sector was up 0.9%, according to FactSet data.
All of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors were trading in the green on Tuesday.
There’s less than an hour’s worth of trading left on Christmas Eve.
Stock exchanges are set to close at 1 p.m. ET, with bond markets slated to call it a day an hour later.
U.S. stocks were edging higher in a quiet trading session on Tuesday, with the three major indexes on pace to close out the final trading day before the Christmas holiday on a high note.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising 0.5%, to trade at 43,117 as of 11:40 a.m. Eastern time. The blue-chip index was on pace for its best Christmas Eve performance since 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The S&P 500 was surging 0.8%, on track for its best Christmas Eve since 2011, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The Nasdaq Composite was jumping over 1%, to trade at around 19,974. The tech-heavy index was headed for its best Christmas Eve performance in over two decades.
Walmart’s stock was climbing 1.3% in recent trading, which puts it on track to snap a four-day losing streak in which it shed 5.3%.
J.P. Morgan analysts said in a note to clients that they were “more optimistic” on broadline retailer stocks going into 2025, as consumer wage growth is staying “solid” and wallet-share headwinds are passing.
Walmart’s stock was still down 4.4% since it closed at a record $95.70 on Dec. 6, and is down 1.1% month to date. That puts it in danger of snapping a seven-month win streak through November, which is the longest such streak since the seven-month stretch that ended June 1997.
If the stock can close above $92.50 at the end of this month, it would mark the longest monthly win streak since the nine-month streak that ended in May 1986.
The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF was trading at $87.13, down 37 cents, or 0.4%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That leaves it on track for its lowest close since November 2023.
The ETF was off by 7.3% month to date and on pace for its worst month since September 2023, when it fell 8.2%.
Bonds have been caught in a relentless selloff since September, when the Federal Reserve delivered the first cut to its policy interest-rate target. The pace of the selloff has intensified since the Nov. 5 election.
The yield on the 10-year note, which isn’t included in the TLT ETF, has risen 1 percentage point since its 52-week low in September, according to Dow Jones data.
Stocks were mostly higher in the early going of a holiday-shortened session Tuesday, with tech-related shares leading the way as the so-called Santa Claus rally period gets under way.
The phenomenon was described in 1972 by Yale Hirsch, founder of the Stock Trader’s Almanac. It covers the last five trading days of the year plus the first two of the new year. This year it started at the opening bell on Tuesday and will end at the closing bell on Jan. 3. Average S&P 500 gains over this seven-trading-day range since 1969 are a respectable 1.3%, according to the Almanac.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5%, while the S&P 500 added 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was hovering near unchanged.
Stocks were up slightly at the opening bell, kicking off the so-called Santa rally period with gains. Trading conditions were expected to be thin with stocks set to close early at 1 p.m. ET and bonds an hour later. U.S. markets will be closed Wednesday for Christmas.
Shares of space-exploration company Intuitive Machines Inc. continued their rally Tuesday, rising 1.5% in premarket trading, putting the stock on pace for a three-day winning streak.
The stock ended Monday’s session up 7.4% to register its biggest daily percentage gain since Dec. 16, when it rose 10.7%. The company’s shares are up 470.7% in 2024.
On Monday the company announced that it has secured additional contracts from NASA’s Near Space Network. The contract wins provide Intuitive Machines with the “lion’s share” of the $4.82 billion NSN contract, Benchmark analyst Josh Sullivan wrote in a note released Monday.
