Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange on the last trading day of the year on December 31, 2024 in New York.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open informs investors about everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
A tough week of trading
US stocks a rose on Friday but still ended the week lower. The S&P 500 energy sector bucked the trend and rose more than 3% for the week. European Stoxx 600 index down 0.49%. Automotive stocks were among the worst performers, with Stellantis shares lost about 2% after the company reported a 45.7% production cut in 2024.
Boeing’s year of renewal
Boeing it hasn’t recorded an annual profit since 2018, which saw the first of two disasters crash of its 737 Max which killed 346 people. A year ago, unused emergency exit door blow out in the air from the almost new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. New CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over the top job in August, is tasked with making sure Boeing can increase production and maintain quality. Here how is he doing.
Decline in sales of foreign phones in China
Sales of foreign phone brands in China totaled 3.04 million units in November, according to CNBC calculations based on data from the Chinese Academy of Information and Communications Technology. This represents a 47.4% decline from November 2023, suggesting brands like Apple they were struggling in the Chinese market.
Microsoft is investing heavily in data centers
Microsoft plans spend $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on building data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads, the company announced on Friday blog post. More than half of expected AI infrastructure spending will be in the US, Microsoft vice president and president Brad Smith wrote. Microsoft’s fiscal year 2025 ends in June.
[PRO] December business report
Big chunks of economic data this week there are minutes for the US Federal Reserve’s December meeting, out on Wednesday, and the December jobs report, out on Friday. While neither is likely to change the Fed’s interest rate decision at its January meeting, they could provide more clarity on the central bank’s moves in 2025.
Conclusion
US markets rose on Friday, but those hoping for some holiday cheer were disappointed.
On Friday, S&P 500 added 1.26 percent Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8% and Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.77%. Still, losses from previous trading sessions — before Friday, the S&P and Nasdaq were on five-day losing streaks — were too much to bear. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.48%, the Dow lost 0.60% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.51%.
This means that the so-called Santa Claus rally, a phenomenon in which stocks rise during the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the next, did not descend on the markets this year.
A lack of visits from Santa this year could mean a Tougher times ahead for stocks Like the late Yale Hirsch, founder Stock Trader’s Almanac in 1968, he said“If Santa doesn’t call, the bears might come to Broad and Wall.”
However, putting too much faith in such signals can be the equivalent of believing that Santa put the PlayStation under the pine tree because we were good kids.
And just as we get older and realize that money has given us gifts, we should remember that the stock market is a bet on how much cash a company can bring in.
On that front, UBSDavid Lefkowitz, the bank’s chief investment officer for US equities, is feeling optimistic. “We expect the bull market to continue with the S&P 500 reaching 6,600 by the end of the year, driven primarily by healthy earnings growth of 9%,” Lefkowitz wrote in a recent note. Its price target implies an increase of about 11% compared to Friday’s close.
It is a gift so valuable that no person, real or imagined, could give it.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Pia Singh, Sean Conlon, Jesse Pound and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
