S&P 500, Nasdaq slide to start final trading week of 2024

Former President Jimmy Carter died Sunday at the age of 100 at his home in Plains, Georgia, the Carter Center said.

On Monday, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq announced trading will be closed on Thursday Jan. 9 in observance of the National Day of Mourning.

Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports:

Housing contract activity picked up again in November as buyers shrugged off elevated mortgage rates and took advantage of higher inventory levels.

The Pending Home Sales Index, which tracks contract signings on existing homes, rose 2.2% from October to 79, its highest reading since February 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). An index level of 100 is equal to contract activity in 2001.

It’s the fourth straight month of gains. Pending home sales are up 6.9% compared to November 2023.

“Consumers appeared to have recalibrated expectations regarding mortgage rates and are taking advantage of more available inventory,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.

All 11 sectors in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) were in the red at the open on Monday. The Information Technology sector (XLK), a key driver of the 2024 stock market rally, was off about 1.8% leading the losses.

The “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks — Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Nvidia (NVDA) — were all of more than 1% to start the trading session.

Futures are pointing to a lower open on Wednesday as stocks continue to struggle during a historically strong period for the S&P 500 (^GSPC).

Since 1950, the S&P 500 has risen 1.3% during the seven trading days beginning Dec. 24, well above the typical seven-day average of 0.3%, according to LPL Financial chief technical strategist Adam Turnquist. History has shown that if Santa does come and the S&P 500 posts a positive return during the time period, then January is typically a positive month for the benchmark index and the rest of the year averages a 10.4% return.

When the S&P 500 is negative during that time frame, January usually doesn’t end in the green, and the return for the upcoming full year averages just 5%, per Turnquist. Three days into this year’s Santa Claus period, which will close on Friday, Jan. 3, the S&P 500 is down less than 0.1%

While history may be flashing a warning sign, it’s notable that last year the Santa Claus rally didn’t materialize. January started poorly too. Still, the S&P 500 is still set to end the year up more than 20%.

Boeing (BA) shares slipped more than 3% in pre-market trading on Monday morning after one its aircrafts was involved in a fatal crash in South Korea on Sunday.

The 737-800 aircraft operated by Jeju Air Co. crashed on Sunday morning at Muan International Airport, leaving all but two of the 181 occupants on board dead. Bloomberg reported investigators will be focusing on a bird strike to the aircraft as well as a landing gear failure.