Editor-DN
Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Thursday
43 minutes ago
Decliners
- Tesla (TSLA) shares tumbled 6.1%, after the carmaker reported lower-than-expected vehicle deliveries for the fourth quarter, logging a year-over-year drop in delivery figures. The annual slump suggests that demand and the economic environment could be weighing on the company. At the same time, Tesla also faces stiff competition in the electric vehicle (EV) market from China’s BYD (BYDDY) and a number of other players.
- Boeing (BA) stock sank 2.9% on Thursday. The tragic crash in South Korea last weekend involving one of a 737-800 aircraft was the latest in a string of safety incidents involving Boeing planes. However, analysts at Deutsche Bank noted the outlook could brighten for Boeing stock in 2025, pointing to expected production improvements and robust demand trends in the aerospace and defense sector.
- Apple (AAPL) announced discounts on its current iPhone models in China as it aims to keep pace with domestic rivals in the key smartphone market. Apple shares dropped 2.6%.
Advancers
- Nuclear energy stocks powered higher to start the new year after Maryland-based utility Constellation Energy (CEG) announced that it secured a 10-year contract worth $840 million with the U.S. General Services Administration. Under the deal, Constellation will provide electricity to power a wide range of government agencies. CEG shares jumped 8.4%, while shares of fellow nuclear-focused power generator Vistra Corp. (VST) surged 8.6% to notch Thursday’s top performance in the S&P 500.
- Shares of Texas Pacific Land Corp. (TPL), an owner of significant acreage in the oil-rich Permian Basin, gained 6.7%. The stock saw significant volatility in the final months of 2024 surrounding its late-November addition to the S&P 500 and as the century-old land trust explores alternative revenue sources, including bitcoin mining, data centers, and alternative energy.
- Following a difficult year in 2024, solar power stocks were another bright spot in the markets as 2025 trading began. The strong day for the solar industry followed a report from Tesla showing a record high in energy storage deployments. Shares of solar equipment providers First Solar (FSLR) and Enphase Energy (ENPH) surged 5.8% and 3.9%, respectively.
Hopes for Santa Clause Rally Fade
1 hr 18 min ago
Santa may not be visiting Wall Street this year after all.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2% on Thursday and has lost ground in five straight sessions, giving investors little hope of getting a Santa Claus rally, which is the tendency for stocks to rise during the last five sessions of a year and the first two of the new year. The index would have to rise 1.8% on Friday to get back into positive territory for the seven-day period this year.
Granted, 2024 was an exceptional year for stocks, even without an end-of-year boost. The S&P 500 rose more than 20% for a second straight year, its first such stretch this millennium.
But a Santa Claus rally is more than just a cherry on top of a year; it’s sometimes also seen as an omen. The Santa Claus rally is historically correlated with stocks’ January and full-year performance.
Since 1950, the S&P 500 has, on average, returned 1.4% in January and 10.4% in the calendar year after a Santa Claus rally, according to a recent analysis by LPL Financial.
(The S&P 500 was launched in 1957; stock performance before this year is based on its predecessor index, the S&P 90.) In years without a Santa Claus rally, the index’s average January return has been slightly negative and its full-year return has averaged just 5%.
Read the full article here.
Constellation Energy Surges on Government Contracts
3 hr 3 min ago
Shares of Constellation Energy (CEG) surged Thursday after the company announced a pair of contracts with the federal government worth over $1 billion.
One of the contracts between Constellation and the General Services Administration (GSA) is a 10-year, $840 million deal for Constellation to supply over a dozen government departments across five states with nuclear power. The power will come from Constellation’s existing facilities, along with investments the company plans to make to increase its production capacity.
Additionally, Constellation was has been awarded a $172 million deal to perform “energy savings and conservation measures” at five buildings in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. The measures will include energy conservation projects like new lighting, HVAC systems, and more.
The deals mean the federal government is joining the push into investing in nuclear energy that has also reached the tech industry in recent months. Constellation has agreed to restart one of the Three Mile Island reactors in Pennsylvania to provide power to Microsoft (MSFT), while Amazon (AMZN) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) have also recently reached deals to buy nuclear energy.
“This agreement is another powerful example of how things have changed,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said. “Under this agreement, the United States government joins Microsoft and other entities to support continued investment in reliable nuclear energy that will allow Constellation to relicense and extend the lives of these critical assets.”
Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg / Getty Images
Constellation shares were up more than 6% in late trading Thursday, just over double where they were a year ago.
Synaptics Stock Surges on Google AI Tech Partnership
4 hr 28 min ago
Shares of Synaptics (SYNA) jumped Thursday after the developer of technology for the Internet of Things (IoT) announced an artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration with Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google.
The company said that it would be teaming with Google on Edge AI “for the IoT to define the optimal implementation of multimodal processing for context-aware computing.”
Synaptics explained that the agreement will integrate Google’s machine learning core with its Synaptics Astra hardware. It noted that the combination will speed up development of AI devices for the IoT “that support the processing of vision, image, voice, sound, and other modalities” used in a range of applications.
Chief Product Officer Vikram Gupta said the world is “on the brink of a transformative era in Edge AI devices,” and that working with Google “reflects a shared vision to leverage open frameworks as a catalyst for disruption in the Edge IoT space.”
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Synaptics shares were up nearly 7% in mid-afternoon trading Thursday. Even with today’s advance, Synaptics shares have lost about a third of their value in the past year.
Shares of Alphabet, were down about 0.5% today after rising 34% last year.
S&P 500 Levels to Watch as Investors Assess Outlook for 2025
4 hr 50 min ago
The S&P 500 (SPX) entered 2025 on its best two-year run since the late 1990s.
The large-cap index rose 23% gain last year after surging 24% in 2023, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom and first interest rate cuts since 2020 helped drive stocks higher. While the AI narrative and expected rate cuts will likely continue to support large-cap stocks over the next 12 months, investors will also be closely watching the impact of the incoming Trump administration’s policies.
The index has carved out a head and shoulders pattern, a classic chart formation that indicates a potential market top.
Investors should watch major support levels on the S&P 500’s chart around 5,875, 5,670, and 5,445 while also monitoring key overhead areas near 6,090 and 6,290.
The S&P 500, which is riding a four-session losing streak, was down 0.7% at around 5,840 in mid-afternoon trading Thursday.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
Unity Software Jumps Following ‘Roaring Kitty’ Post
5 hr 35 min ago
Unity Software (U) shares jumped 8% Thursday, a day after a social media post by the meme stock hero known as “Roaring Kitty” referencing a clip of the late musician Rick James, who had a song called “Unity.”
After making his mark during the meme stock craze of late 2020 and early 2021, Gill resurfaced last year, sending shares of several stocks jumping with his posts.
Gill’s foray back into the limelight began in June, when he indicated a large position in video game retailer GameStop (GME) in a post on Reddit (RDDT), where he goes by the username “DeepF—ingValue.” That was followed with a cryptic photo of a cartoon dog on X that drove up shares of Chewy (CHWY) and Petco Health + Wellness (WOOF).
Later, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing revealed Gill had taken a position in Chewy. Gill later posted another cryptic photo from the movie “Toy Story 2,” suggesting that he had dropped the stock. He did sell it later in the year.
Despite Thursday’s rise, Unity Software’s stock has lost more than a third of its value over the past 12 months.
What’s in Store for the Magnificent Seven in 2025?
6 hr 44 min ago
The S&P 500 had another banner year in 2024, rising more than 20% for the second straight year, a feat last accomplished in the 1990s. And just like the year before, a small group of stocks accounted for an outsized share of that gain.
The Magnificent Seven group of large-cap technology companies—Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG)(GOOGL), Meta (META), and Tesla (TSLA)— gained 63% in 2024, after rising more than 75% the year before.
There were bumps in the road—the group had its worst day on record in July—but, for the most part, the artificial intelligence (AI) boom continued to boost the stocks of these tech giants.
Without the Mag Seven, aggregate S&P 500 earnings per share would have contracted in 2023 rather than grown. The group’s profits continued to lead the index in 2024, accounting for about 75% of S&P 500 earnings growth. In 2025, however, growth is expected to broaden out as the Magnificent Seven slows and the rest of the index picks up the pace.
As for their stocks, the Mag Seven is expected to continue to outperform in 2025, though by less than they have over the last two years.
Read more here about the outlook for the Mag 7 this year.
Tesla Shares Tumble as Vehicle Delivery Numbers Disappoint
7 hr 34 min ago
Tesla (TSLA) shares sank Thursday morning after the electric vehicle maker reported fewer deliveries than analysts had expected for the fourth quarter.
The EV giant delivered 495,570 vehicles in the quarter, up from 484,507 in the same period last year, but below the 512,250 consensus estimate compiled by Visible Alpha. Tesla produced 459,445 vehicles in the quarter, well below the 503,500 analysts had expected, and the nearly 500,000 the company produced last year.
Tesla also fell short of delivery and production estimates for the full fiscal year, with deliveries declining year-over-year to roughly 1.79 million vehicles—just below the 1.8 million analysts had expected. The company produced 1.77 million vehicles, below the 1.82 million that analysts projected.
Shares of the EV maker rallied after Donald Trump’s election win in November because of CEO Elon Musk’s proximity to the president-elect and the belief that a second Trump administration will benefit Tesla. However, the stock has retreated in recent weeks from the record levels it reached last month.
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Tesla shares were down 6% Thursday morning, losing ground for the fifth straight session.
Tesla also said Thursday it will report its full financial results for the quarter and fiscal 2024 after the bell January 29.
S&P 500 Starts 2025 on Best Two-Year Run Since Late ’90s
9 hr 33 min ago
Despite a sluggish performance in the final trading sessions of the year, the S&P 500 finished 2024 with a 23% gain. That came on the heals of a 24% rise in 2023 and marked the first time since the late-1990s that the benchmark stock index registered two consecutive years with gains of more than 20%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the year up 29%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 13%.
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Nvidia Levels to Watch After Two Years of Massive Gains
9 hr 42 min ago
Shares in AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) will be in the spotlight ahead of a presentation by CEO Jensen Huang scheduled for next Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Investors will be watching for updates from Huang on sales projections for the company’s Blackwell chips and details about Rubin, Blackwell’s successor, which Nvidia plans to release in 2026. Several leading Wall Street firms have named Nvidia as their 2025 “top pick,” pointing out that strong demand for its Blackwell platform positions the company for another year of explosive growth.
Nvidia shares closed out 2024 with a gain of 170% amid surging demand for its silicon as big tech customers—including Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META) and Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google—beefed up their AI datacenter and cloud computing infrastructure. Last year’s big gain came on the heels of a 240% increase in 2023.
Since hitting a record high in late November, Nvidia shares have traded within a descending channel, with the price tagging the pattern’s upper and lower trendlines on several occasions since that time.
Investors should watch key support levels on Nvidia’s chart around $130 and $115, while also monitoring important resistance levels near $140 and $150.
Nvidia shares were up 1.6% at $136.50 in recent premarket trading.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
Major Indexes Poised to Start New Year in Positive Territory
10 hr 12 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.7%.
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S&P 500 futures were up 0.8%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1%.
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