Wall Street see-sawed to a lower close on Thursday amid choppy trading, as investors embarked on the new year facing the cross-currents of solid labor market data, a rising dollar and tumbling Tesla shares.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to 42,392.27, the S&P 500 lost 13.08 points, or 0.22%, to 5,868.55 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 30.00 points, or 0.16%, to 19,280.79.
Market Movers
Tesla - Tesla fell 6.1% after fourth-quarter deliveries from the electric-vehicle maker missed Wall Street estimates and the company posted an annual sales decline. Tesla reported fourth-quarter vehicle deliveries of 495,570, up from a year earlier but below estimates of about 507,000. Tesla sharesclosed out 2024up nearly 63%, with most of the gains coming after Donald Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said a Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday that killed one person and left at least seven others injured was “unrelated to the vehicle itself.” Musk added that “all vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
Nvidia, Vistra Energy - Vistra, the electricity and power-generation company, rose 258% last year, making it the second-best performer in the index. Rounding out the top three was Nvidia, the leading maker of AI chips, which jumped 171%. Vistra rose 8.6% on Thursday while Nvidia was up 3%.
Apple - Apple fell 2.6%. Analysts at UBS lowered their iPhone sales estimates, which already had been below Wall Street consensus. UBS predicted for the quarter ended in December that iPhone revenue will decline 5%, missing both the Visible Alpha consensus and the implied growth highlighted by management in Apple’s last quarterly earnings report.
MicroStrategy, Coinbase - Crypto-linked companies such as MicroStrategy, up 3.6%, and Coinbase, up 3.6%, traded higher after Bitcoin posted gains of 2.8% over the past 24 hours to $97,139.18.
Unity Software - Unity Software jumped 9.1% and Keith Gill—the influential trader known as “Roaring Kitty”—may be behind the move. Gill late Wednesday posted a GIF of the comedian Dave Chappelle impersonating the R&B and funk singer Rick James on X. “Unity” is the name of the final track on James’ 1983 album Cold Blooded. Otherwise, there has been no new fundamental news about the company.
NIO Inc., Li Auto, XPeng - U.S.-listed shares of NIO were up 4.4% after the Chinese electric-vehicle maker said its total vehicle sales in December rose 73% to 31,138 units, boosting total sales in 2024 by 39% to 221,970 units. Li Auto was up 0.1% after sales in December jumped to a record 58,513 vehicles, pushing full-year sales to 500,508. XPeng declined 2.3% even as sales in December surged 82% to 36,695. BYD, China’s top domestic EV maker,sold 514,809 vehicles in December, boosting 2024 sales by 41% to 4.3 million vehicles. BYD shares declined 4% in China.
SoFi Technologies - SoFi Technologies declined 8.3% to $14.13 after analysts at Keefe Bruyettedowngraded sharesof the fintech company to Underperform from Market Perform but raised their price target to $8 from $7. The stock’s valuation has “become overstretched across a wide matrix of multiples,” even if Sofi is successful at achieving its “ambitious” long-term targets,” the analysts said. Thestockgained about 58% last year.
Palantir - Palantir Technologies fell 0.6%. The software company finished 2024 as thetop stock in the S&P 500, rising 340% as it leaned heavily into artificial intelligence.
Cloudflare, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, CrowdStrike - Cloudflare rose 4.5% to $112.54 after analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded shares of the cloud cybersecurity company to Buy from Sell and raised their price target to $140 from $77. Improving sales productivity and enthusiasm for AI are potential growth catalysts in 2025, the analysts said. Cybersecurity peers Palo Alto Networks was down 0.7%, while Fortinet was up 0.3%, and CrowdStrike was up 1.5%.
Walgreens Boots Alliance - Walgreens Boots Alliance finished 2024 as the worst stock in the S&P 500 after falling 64%. Walgreens has struggled for years and announced plans to close 1,200 stores in the fall. The stock received a boost in mid-December following a report that said private-equity firm Sycamore Partners was interested in buying the pharmacy chain. Walgreens was down 1.5%.
Constellation Energy - Constellation Energy rose 8.4% after securing more than $1 billion in contracts from the General Services Administration. The company will supply power to more than 13 government agencies and perform energy savings and work on conservation.
Callaway Golf - Topgolf Callaway stock gained 14.5% after Jefferies analysts upgraded shares of the golf equipment manufacturer to Buy from Hold and raised their price target to $13 from $11. The analysts noted the stock appears oversold ahead of Callaway’s spinoff of Topgolf, the Texas-based sports entertainment company it acquired in 2021.
Market News
Tesla Annual Deliveries Fall for First Time as Incentives Fail to Drum up Demand
Tesla reported its first fall in yearly deliveries on Thursday as lucrative year-end incentives for the Elon Musk-led EV maker's aging line up and the new Cybertruck pickup failed to lure customers wary of high borrowing costs.
Shares of the company fell about 6%. Musk had earlier predicted "slight growth" in 2024 deliveries and offered a range of promotions including interest-free financing and free fast-charging to boost sales.
Tesla is yet to disclose the delivery numbers for its Cybertruck. The company said on Thursday it handed over 471,930 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles and 23,640 units of other models, including the Model S sedan, Cybertruck and Model X premium SUV.
Overall, Tesla handed over 495,570 vehicles in the three months to Dec. 31, missing estimates of 503,269 units, according to 15 analysts polled by LSEG. It produced 459,445 vehicles in the period, down about 7% from a year ago.
Deliveries for 2024 totaled 1.79 million, 1.1% lower than a year ago and below estimates of 1.806 million units, according to 19 analysts polled by LSEG.
US Weekly Jobless Claims Hit Eight-Month Low as Labor Market Remains Resilient
The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits dropped to an eight-month low last week, pointing to low layoffs at the end of 2024 and consistent with a healthy labor market.
The report from the Labor Department on Thursday added to a recent raft of upbeat economic data, including consumer spending, in reinforcing the Federal Reserve's projections for fewer interest rate cuts this year. Labor market resilience is keeping the economic expansion on track.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 for the week ended Dec. 28, the lowest level since April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 222,000 claims for the latest week.
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