CNBC Business News Update - Market Midday: Stocks Modestly Lower, Indexes On Pace For Double Digit Percentage Annual Gains, Santa Claus Rally Still Possible 12/31/24

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

From Wall Street to Main Street, the latest on the markets and what it means for your money. Updated regularly on weekdays, featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business newsmakers. Anchored by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger.

I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. The final few hours of trading in 2024, and the markets are in the red. The Dow down 54 points, being led lower by shares of NVIDIA, which are down 1%. The S&P 500 this afternoon down 11, the NASDAQ down 57 points. The major indexes, though, on pace to notch some big gains for the full year. The Dow up 12%, the S&P 500 index up 23 percent, and that NASDAQ is on pace to return 29 percent this year. For the S&P 500 index, consecutive gains of 20 percent or more are extremely rare. It's only happened three other times in the 30s, 50s, and 1990s. And in 1996, 97, and 98, the S&P 500 returned more than 20% three years in a row,

and that was the only time that's ever happened. Some investors disappointed. There's been no Santa Claus rally for 2024, at least not yet. There's still a couple days left. So Thursday, Friday still are within the Santa Claus rally period. It's the final five trading days of one year, first two of the next. So in theory, you can rescue the indicator. And it used to be this idea that, oh, it's an early warning signal of trouble if you don't have gains over that period of time.

It was always kind of a blunt instrument. But I think you should be on alert, if nothing else, and suggest that there has been some pent up profit taking that's in this market after two good years. But the predictive powers are just not there. CNBC's Mike Santoli for 2025. Many investors are not betting on another 20% plus year. I think that we might eke out another positive year, the overall market. But I think it's going to be a lot bumpier ride here in 2025. I think we're due for a correction probably maybe in the first half. We haven't had one what about a year and a half now and we're due for one. The Luthold Group's Jim Paulson on CNBC. What was the best investment for 2024? The one with the biggest gain? It was Bitcoin. Bitcoin surging about 30% since Election Day, finishing the year up 120%.

CNBC's Frank Holland says Bitcoin started 2024 at about $40,000 and was hovering near $95,000 on New Year's Eve day. The housing market was hoping for a big boost from the Fed rate-cutting cycle. It has been cutting interest rates, but mortgage rates don't follow the Fed. They loosely follow the 10-year Treasury, and those yields are higher. Would-be homebuyers are starting the new year facing the average rate on a 30-year home loan at 7.1 percent, according to Mortgage News Daily. On Thursday's watch list, it is the first business day of the new year and of the first quarter. Also on Thursday, we find out how many people applied for unemployment benefits last week and we get the latest on construction spending.

Here's to a happy and prosperous new year. I'm Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Get a head start on 2025 with the hottest tech event, CES, the jobs report, and meet the future of biotech and pharma at JPM Healthcare and the meeting of world leaders in Davos. Plus, the first Fed decision of the year, CNBC.