Wall Street closed in negative territory on Monday in light volume at the top of a holiday-shortened week in the second-to-last trading session of an eventful year in which all three indexes posted strong double-digit gains.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 418.48 points, or 0.97%, to 42,573.73, the S&P 500 lost 63.90 points, or 1.07%, to 5,906.94 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 235.25 points, or 1.19%, to 19,486.79.
Market Movers
Tesla - Tesla was down 3.3% on Monday after declining 5% on Friday. The electric-vehicle makerrecalled almost 700,000 vehiclesto correct a potential error with the warning light on the tire-pressure monitoring system. Tesla said it would be issuing a free software update to fix the problem. The company is expected this Thursday to reportfourth-quarter deliveries.
Apple - Apple fell 1.3% after closing Friday at $255.59, down 1.3%. The stock, however, had traded as high as $258.70 during the session, moving Apple closer to becoming the first U.S. company with amarket capitalization of $4 trillion. Shares have to close above $264.62 to reach that valuation.
Boeing - Shares of Boeing fell 2.3% after a Boeing 737-800 jet operated by South Korea’s Jeju Air crashed while landing in South Korea, killing nearly all 181 passengers and crew on board.The Jeju plane was manufactured in 2009, and the airline started flying it in 2017.
The aircraft isn’t a 737 MAX jet, which is the model closely monitored by investors since two tragic crashes grounded that jet worldwide from March 2019 to November 2020. The two MAX jets were relatively new, and the problem was traced back to faulty flight control software.
Super Micro Computer - Super Micro Computer was down 4.1%. Shares of the server maker fell 5.2% to $31.98 on Friday, making the stock the worst performer in the S&P 500 during the session. The stock was swept up Friday in a broad tech-sector selloff. Heading into the last week of 2024, Super Micro has risen 10% for the year. It has been the year’s most volatile stock in the S&P 500, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Snap - Social-media and internet stocks Meta Platforms, Alphabet, and Snap fell 1.4%, 0.8%, and 1.2%, respectively, after President-elect Donald Trump on Friday asked the Supreme Court toblock a federal law banning TikTok from taking effect on Jan. 19. Trump, in a legal brief, urged the Supreme Court to delay the ban on TikTok, which has become a significant rival to the U.S. technology companies, so his administration can “pursue a negotiated resolution that could prevent a nationwide shutdown” of the social-media platform. TikTok is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance.
Palantir - Palantir Technologies declined 2.4%. Shares of the software company slipped back from record territory on Thursday and closed down 3.7% on Friday.
Nvidia - Nvidia, the artificial-intelligence chip giant, rose 0.4% after falling 2.1% Friday. The stock has gained 182% this year.
Nissan Motor, Honda - U.S.-traded shares of Nissan Motor declined 8.2%. The Japanese auto maker’s stock fell more than 5% in Tokyo, extending losses that began Friday. Last week, Honda Motor announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with its competitor as rumors of a merger swirled. The companies plan to draw up a definitive agreement, including a share transfer plan, by June 2025. Nissan and Honda will be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and replaced by a new technical listing in August 2026. Shares of Honda were down 0.9%.
Faraday Future - Faraday Future soared 78.4% Monday on reports that the Faraday Future FX prototype car will be unveiled at CES 2025 in Las Vegas on January 5-7. The company is also expected to provide a strategy update at CES.
Market News
US Stock Market to Close Jan. 9 on Carter’s Day of Mourning
US stock markets will close Jan. 9, in observance of a national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter.
The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Inc.’s US equities exchanges and Cboe Global Markets Inc. will shut, the companies said. The bond market will close at 2 p.m. New York time, per the recommendation of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
CME Group Inc. said its equities derivatives market will start trading as usual at 6 p.m. in New York on Jan. 8 and close at 9:30 a.m. the following morning. Stock futures trading will resume at 6 p.m. on Jan. 9.
US Pending Home Sales Hit 21-Month High in November
Contracts to buy U.S. previously owned homes rose more than expected in November, notching a fourth straight month of gains as buyers focused on taking advantage of improved inventory despite stubbornly high mortgage rates.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Monday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on signed contracts, rose 2.2% last month to 79.0 - the highest since February 2023 - from 77.3 in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast contracts, which become sales after a month or two, would rise 0.9% after increasing 1.8% in October.
Pending home sales rose 6.9% from a year earlier. On a regional basis, the Midwest, South and West saw monthly increases while contract signings slipped in the Northeast. All four regions posted annual gains.