Traders work on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 18, 2024.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures were relatively flat Monday night, with the three major indexes kicking off the holiday-shortened trading week in the green.
S&P 500 Index Futures rose about 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures Trading above the flat line. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average It also rose 34 points, or about 0.1%.
Trading activity is expected to be more subdued this week. On Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange closed early on Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. ET, while the bond market closed at 2 p.m.
Trading was relatively light on Monday, S&P 500 Index Up about 0.7% Nasdaq Index It closed up about 1%. 30 stocks Dow Chemical It also closed up nearly 0.2%.
Technology and semiconductor stocks were among the day’s big winners, boosting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. meta platform rose more than 2% and Broadcom rose more than 5%, while Nvidia gained 3.7%.
elsewhere, Honda and copy Each closing increase exceeded 12%. The Japanese automaker announced it has Entering into formal merger negotiations Partnering with Japanese carmaker Nissan. Xerox says yes Plans to acquire printer manufacturer Lexmark The deal is worth $1.5 billion.
Still, the day was marred by weak economic data. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index Dropped to 104.7 December. The reading was below expectations for the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 113.0, marking the first time the index has Reading in September 98.7. In addition, durable goods orders Down 1.1% in Novemberwhich was the largest month-on-month decline since June.
Santa Claus rally coming soon?
With few trading days, some investors are hoping the Santa Claus rally caps off an already strong year for the market. This isn’t entirely unusual. According to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, S&P 500 Index have Average increase of 1.3% The gap between the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of January dates back to 1969.
But Jay Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Advisors called for some market lull in the coming days. He stuck to his 2024 year-end target of 6,000 for the S&P 500, which would mean the broader index would rise just 0.4% from Monday’s close.
“We may have Santa Claus rallies, but they are not very powerful,” the company’s CEO told CNBC. “We are neutral on the market.”
