United States share indices finished about 1% lower on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) but are poised to end another banner year with strong gains over 12 months.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 418.48 points (0.97%) to 42,573.73, the S&P 500 dropped 63.90 (1.07%) to 5,906.94 and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 235.25 (1.19%) to 19,486.79.
Continued profit taking, tax-related selling ahead of the end of the calendar year and concerns about what 2025 might hold in store were cited for the easing in prices across the indices in the second last trading day of the calendar year.
Despite this, the capital gains across the year to date are impressive with the technology stock-heavy Nasdaq index up more than 31%, the S&P more than 24% higher and the Dow showing gains of about 13%.
The large tech stocks known as the Magnificent 7 for their outsized impact on the market’s performance continued to fall, with the exception of Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), which edged 0.4% higher and has risen more than 180% across the year.
But falls were recorded by Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), which closed down 3.3%, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) 1.3%, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) 0.8%, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) 1.1%, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 1.3% and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) 1.4%.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) shares fell 2.3% after South Korea's acting president Choi Sang-mok ordered an inspection of the airline’s fleet in the east Asian country in the wake of the crash in Seoul of a Boeing 737-800 on Sunday which killed 179 people.
Weakness was also seen in the prices of airlines operating Boeing jets with United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) dropping 1.3% and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) ending 0.7% lower.
Looking ahead to 2025, investors are considering the prospects for further U.S. interest rate cuts and the impact of President-elect Donald Trump’s policies, including tariffs, on the economy, and particularly inflation, which the Federal Reserve is trying to curb.
U.S. Treasury bills yields fell with 10-year and two-year paper down about 2% each to 4.533% and 4.244% respectively at 9.15am AEDT (10pm GMT).