U.S. stocks closed mixed on Thursday (Friday AEDT) after erasing earlier gains in thin trading following back-to-back rallies earlier in the holiday week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1% to 43,325.80 after losing as much as 182 points earlier in the session while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.1% to 20,020.36 and the S&P 500 fell 0.04% to 6,037.59.
Stocks rose on Monday and Tuesday after a solid Christmas Eve for the S&P 500, ahead of Wednesday’s Christmas break closure, adding to the Santa Claus rally that investors are hoping for - Thursday was the second day of the Santa rally. The S&P 500 gained 1.1% on Tuesday, marking its best Christmas Eve performance since 1974.
The Santa Claus rally makes up the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January. During this period the S&P 500 has traditionally generated an average return of 1.3%, widely outpacing the market’s average seven-day return of 0.3%.
So far this week, the S&P 500 is up 1.8%, while the Dow has gained 1%, and the strong megacap tech rally has lifted the Nasdaq 2.3%. In the month to date, the S&P 500 is up by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq has jumped 4.2%, driven by strong gains in Tesla, Apple and Alphabet. However, the Dow is down about 3.6%, on track for its worst month since April.
Large-cap technology stocks closed mixed on Thursday. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) added 0.3% after hitting a fresh all-time high and sees the tech giant inching closer to becoming the first company to ever achieve $4 trillion in market value.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Alphabet also rose slightly and Nvidia, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Tesla fell. Medical technology company Senseonics surged 23%.
In cryptocurrency news, shares of bitcoin-related companies came under pressure as the digital currency declined. MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), one of the world's largest holders of bitcoin, fell 4.8%, while cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NYSE: COIN) dropped 1.9%.
Bitcoin is hovering around $95,800 in recent trading, down from an overnight high of nearly $100,000. Since the start of the year, Bitcoin is up around 35% on the back of the incoming Trump administration and a crypto-friendly Congress.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys was at 4.58%, after moving as high as 4.64% earlier and trading at its highest levels since May.
In commodity news, gold futures were up 0.7% at around $2,655 an ounce, while crude oil futures were down about 0.5%.