The stock market closed higher last Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapping a five-day losing streak. The Dow gained 73.92 points, or 1.26%, to close at 5,942.47. The S&P 500 advanced 339.86 points, or 0.8%, ending the day at 42,732.13.
Stock Market Highlights, Jan 8: Sensex, Nifty end FLAT as gains in RIL offset HDFC Bank losses; Oil PSU index up 1.5%#Nifty #Sensex #StockMarket #StockMarketIndia https://t.co/KoiMUAfKMK
— ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) January 8, 2025
The Nasdaq rose 340.88 points, or 1.77%, closing at 19,621.68. Tech stocks led the rally, with chip giant Nvidia climbing 4.7% and server maker Super Micro Computer jumping 10.9%. These stocks could benefit from continued spending on artificial intelligence.
Editor's Take | India's underperformance in global markets: Could falling US tech stocks and a weakening dollar signal a turning point?📈
Tune in as @nikunjdalmia breaks down the global cues shaping market sentiment!#US #Dollar #Nvidia #TechStocks #StockMarket pic.twitter.com/ObEGArAGHF
— ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) January 8, 2025
Ha: "Dow Jones futures rose Monday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and especially Nasdaq futures, on a report that President-elect Donald Trump is mulling tariff hikes only on critical imports." https://t.co/t0KgGtS6pi
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) January 6, 2025
Power producers Constellation Energy and Vistra also saw gains of 4% and 8.5%, respectively, boosted by Microsoft’s announcement of an $80 billion investment in AI-enabled data centers for fiscal 2025. Jeremiah Buckley, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors, said, “The secular growth drivers that have been driving earnings growth and market gains over the last two years, I think they’re still on firm footing and will continue to drive those earnings gains.
Tech boosts market with notable gains
Nvidia $NVDA was the worst performing stock in the Dow Jones today 📉 pic.twitter.com/q4fi5GKM6S
— Barchart (@Barchart) January 7, 2025
The S&P 500 lost 0.48%, the Dow fell 0.60%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.51%. The traditional “Santa Claus” rally failed to materialize this year. Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide Financial, noted, “Generally, these days, you have people just moving to the sidelines after what’s been a pretty brutal last four weeks.
And the fact that today you’re not seeing that means that perhaps this is an orderly consolidation, not a beginning of some sort of excruciating period.”
News from Washington also impacted individual stocks. U.S. Steel fell 6.5% after President Biden said he would block its proposed acquisition by Nippon Steel. Alcoholic beverage companies like Molson Coors, which dropped 3.4%, were affected by a U.S. surgeon general advisory on cancer risk related to alcohol consumption.
Looking ahead, UBS’ David Lefkowitz expects the bull market to continue in 2025, with the S&P 500 reaching 6,600 by year-end, driven by healthy profit growth of 9%. However, he cautioned that changes in trade policy, fiscal battles in Congress, inflation, and the outlook for artificial intelligence could spur volatility.
