S&P 500 closes higher to begin holiday week, tech stocks lead the advance: Live updates

Stocks rose on Monday to start a holiday-shortened trading week as the continuous strength in technology names helped the broader market.

The S&P 500 gained 0.73% to 5,974.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.98% to 19,764.89, as Tesla and Meta Platforms added more than 2% and Nvidia climbed more than 3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased earlier losses and ended the day 66.69 points higher, or 0.16%, to 42,906.95.

Trading was thin on Monday and it is expected to remain muted during the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday for Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. ET, and the market is shut on Christmas Day.

Weak economic data seemed to sour the sentiment a bit earlier in the session. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for December fell to 104.7, its lowest level since September and below a Dow Jones estimate of 113.0. Meanwhile, orders for durable goods — generally big-ticket items such as aircraft, appliances and computers — fell 1.1% in November, the largest month-over-month drop since June. The blue-chip Dow declined more than 300 points at one point Monday after the disappointing data.

The market just came off a roller-coaster ride that saw the blue-chip Dow suffer a 10-day losing streak, its longest since 1974. The Dow tumbled 1,100 points Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled fewer rate cuts for 2025 than previously projected. A cooler-than-expected inflation reading at the end of the week helped stocks recoup some of the losses.

Month to date, the 30-stock Dow is down 4.5% in December, while the S&P 500 is off nearly 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite bucked the downtrend, rising 2.8% this month.

Investors have been reassured that federal agencies will stay open into the new year after President Joe Biden signed a funding bill Saturday that averted a government shutdown. The bill funds federal agencies at current levels for the next three months.

Santa rally?

Some investors were hopeful that a so-called Santa Claus rally may help the market end 2024 on a high note, especially following a tumultuous week. Dating back to 1969, the S&P 500, on average, added 1.3% in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. 

The second half of December is also typically the second-strongest period of the year for U.S. equities, and the S&P 500 has been up 83% of the time in December of presidential election years, according to Bank of America.

“With the market’s primary uptrends still intact, we are not giving up on the potential for a Santa Claus to come to Broad & Wall this year,” Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler, said in a note.