4:10pm: US stocks finish 2023 near all-time highs
Wall Street bid farewell to 2023 with a momentary pause after a robust year-end rally that propelled stocks near record highs.
The S&P 500 edged away from its all-time closing peak of nearly 4,797 points with a 0.3% dip on the last trading day to finish at 4,770. The Dow Jones was flat at 37,690 and the Nasdaq had shed nearly 0.6% to close out 2023 at 15,011.
Nevertheless, these minor setbacks couldn't overshadow the overall resilience displayed by major indexes throughout a year marked by economic uncertainty. The Dow marked a 13% gain, the S&P surged by 24%, and the Nasdaq witnessed a remarkable 40% growth in 2023.
This bullish performance unfolded against the backdrop of an assertive tightening campaign by the Federal Reserve aimed at curbing historic levels of inflation.
12:05pm: Wall Street set to end 2023 on a down note
US stocks were lower in noon trading even as major averages are on track for nine consecutive winning weeks, the longest stretch since 2004.
At midday, the Dow fell 106 points to 37,604 while the S&P 500 eased 23 points at 4,761 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 107 points to 14,998.
"Momentum continues to remain favorable heading into year end," Edward Jones senior investment strategist Mona Mahajan said.
Notable movers included shares of Fisker Inc (NYSE:FSR), which climbed 13% after the electric vehicles maker said it increased deliveries by over 300% between the third and fourth quarters.
9:40am: A subdued start
U.S. stocks kicked off the final trading day of 2023 muted as this year’s so-called “Santa rally” has pushed the major indexes toward record highs.
The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 had added 0.1% each at 37,757 points and 4,786 points, respectively, while the Nasdaq was flat at 15,904 points.
In the year to date, the Dow has gained about 13%, the S&P 500 25% and the Nasdaq an impressive 44%.
In terms of major movers on Friday, shares of electric vehicle maker Fisker Inc (NYSE:FSR) added more than 18% after it revealed a more than 300% sequential jump in vehicle deliveries from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.
7:00am: Modest gains expected on Wall Street
US stocks are expected to make a bright start to the last trading day of a what has been a bumper year.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1%, while those for the S&P 500 were 0.1% higher and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.1%.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, noted the biggest takeaway of this year is the birth of ChatGPT which “propelled AI right into the middle of our lives.”
She pointed out this has driven Nasdaq 100 stocks to an all-time high with Nvidia the biggest winner of the AI rally.
Besides Nvidia, she highlighted the rest of the so-called Magnificent 7, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Google and Tesla, which together with Nvidia, have generated almost all of the S&P500 and Nasdaq100’s returns this year.
As for 2024, she said the general expectation is “a cool down in the technology rally, and a rebalancing between the big tech stocks and the S&P493.”
Interest rates will be another key factor with the S&P500 typically rising after the first rate cut, “but the sustainability of the gains will depend on the underlying economic fundamentals.”