Wall Street closes lower on strong final trading day of 2024

Crypto stocks fall as Bitcoin declines

Boeing falls as investigation into South Korea crash begins

American stock market closed on January 9 (Thursday)

Indices down: Dow 0.59%, S&P 500 0.61%, Nasdaq 0.61%

(Market closing update)

New York, December 30 (Reuters) –

Wall Street closed in negative territory Monday on light volume on top of a holiday-shortened week in the second-to-last trading session of an eventful year that saw all three indexes post strong double-digit gains.

Uncertainties about the year-end tax situation, valuations, rising Treasury yields and 2025 contributed to the risk-off sentiment. The three major US stock indexes bounced off early lows but were still down more than 0.5%.

“Investors are saying that even with the recent selloff, the S&P is up more than 50% over the past two years,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York. “Maybe we should take some chips off the table and protect those gains. And when you have low volume, it doesn’t take very much (to move the market).”

Despite recent weakness, 2024 has been a banner year for US equities. The Nasdaq is on track for a nearly 30% annual gain and the S&P 500 is poised to rise more than 24% for 2024. The Dow remains only 13% above its last close in 2023.

At a sector level, technology, communication services and consumer discretionary were poised to post gains of around 30% or more, while materials appeared set to shed the dubious distinction of being the only sector to lose ground in the year.

It was a year during which geopolitical tensions peaked in the Middle East and elsewhere, while the Federal Reserve cut US interest rates for the first time in four years.

In US politics, former President Donald Trump was convicted of 32 felonies at the beginning of the year, then dropped out of the race to be replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris as President Joe Biden’s Democratic nominee. Won the election again.

Chip maker Nvidia’s stock has soared nearly 180% this year as investors bet heavily on the promise of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In November, Nvidia replaced rival chip maker Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

“The next year is going to be a lot more volatile for investors, especially in the first quarter,” Purshay said. “However, I think there’s a good chance the stock will perform quite well next year and deliver mid-single digit returns.”

Citing investors’ expectations that Trump will deliver on his campaign promises, Porsche said, “The combination of potentially lower taxes and a friendlier regulatory environment is likely to result in shares rising well beyond fair valuations.”

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 fell 63.95 points, or 1.06%, to 5,907.43, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 235.25 points, or 1.19%, to 19,486.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 410.18 points, or 0.95%, to 42,582.03.

Shares of Boeing fell after South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok ordered an emergency safety inspection of its entire airline operations following the deadliest air crash in the country’s history, including a Boeing 737-800.

Crypto stocks including MicroStrategy’s Coinbase and MARA Holdings declined.

Biden declared Thursday, Jan. 9, a national day of mourning to mark former President Jimmy Carter’s death on Sunday.

The American stock market will remain closed on that day.

(Reporting by Stephen Culp; additional reporting by Johan M Cherian and Pranab Kashyap in Bengaluru; editing by David Gregorio)