Sluggish Start to 2025 – US Market Wrap
Major US benchmarks extended a sell-off for a fifth day, wiping out more than a trillion dollars in share prices. A pair of deadly attacks exacerbated market anxiety, beginning the first trading day of the year on a downbeat note.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both fell 0.2% on Thursday. Tesla Inc.’s post-Christmas slump widened to nearly 20% after its annual vehicle sales fell, weighing on the stock gauges.
Treasury yields have stabilised, reversing an early rise. The benchmark 10-year rate was nearly 20 basis points higher than it had been before Jerome Powell’s hawkish turn at a Federal Reserve meeting on December 18. Big moves have occurred across asset classes since Powell’s board expressed waning enthusiasm for interest-rate cuts.
The Cboe Volatility Index rose for the fourth time in five days.
Tesla’s stock dropped after the company’s fourth-quarter deliveries fell short of expectations and annual sales fell for the first time in over a decade. The stock had its worst five-day drop in over two years.
Treasuries retreated after weekly jobless claims fell to an eight-month low. The dollar was trading at a more than two-year high.
US stocks had been struggling to break a losing streak that had dimmed the S&P 500’s best two-year run since the late 1990s. The index has risen by more than 50% since the beginning of 2023, owing to gains in tech megacaps and optimism about the potential for profit growth from artificial intelligence.
