U.S. stock futures pointed to a dismal opening Friday as Wall Street appeared to be plodding toward the end of a largely triumphant year.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) fell 0.3%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) lost 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) also lost 0.3%. Meanwhile, 10-year Treasury yields (^TNX) hovered around a seven-month high of around 4.6%.
Wall Street has just three trading days left in a 2024 full of big gains and hopes to resume a ‘Santa Claus’ rally by the end of the year. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) is up more than 26% this year, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) is up more than 30%. The blue-chip Dow Jones (^DJI) is up a more modest 14%.
Markets have largely digested the year’s remaining key economic data, and investors are now turning their attention to two big themes for the year ahead: the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path and the implications of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
On the former, stocks have largely heeded the Fed’s plans to scale back interest rate cuts next year, after an initial decline last week. Expectations have now shifted completely to May, the next meeting when the Fed will cut rates, as the Fed continues to grapple with persistent inflation while keeping a close eye on a cooling labor market.
And on the latter, Ben Werschkul of Yahoo Finance writes that although Trump expressed his big plans during the campaign, especially on the economy, these plans could soon undergo a reality check from other major power players.
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