By Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan
Dec 29 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes were set to kick off the final week of the year on a lower note on Monday, as heavyweight technology stocks gave up some ground from last week’s gains which had pushed the S&P 500 to new highs.
The benchmark S&P 500 was in the 1% range of the 7,000-point mark, and the blue-chip Dow hit a record closing high last week. Some investors were hoping for a “Santa Claus rally”, a seasonal phenomenon where the S&P 500 typically posts gains in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to Stock Trader’s Almanac.
All three indexes are headed for firm monthly gains, with the Dow and S&P 500 on pace for their eighth consecutive month in the green, as technology stocks found footing after an upbeat forecast from chipmaker Micron Technology earlier in the month.
The bull market, which began in October 2022, stayed intact despite concerns over high valuations of technology companies and market volatility, on the back of continued optimism around AI, interest-rate cuts and a resilient economy. All three main indexes are set for their third consecutive yearly gain.
On Monday, most tech and AI-linked stocks edged lower in premarket trading, with Nvidia and Oracle down more than 1% each. Tesla was 1.1% lower after hitting a record high last week.
At 08:00 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 55 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 20 points, or 0.29%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 121 points, or 0.47%.
U.S.-listed shares of precious metal miners fell as silver dropped sharply after topping $80 per ounce for the first time, while gold also fell after back-to-back record highs last week.
Gold miners Newmont and Barrick Mining fell more than 2% each. The Global X Silver Miners ETF shed 3%.
On the macro front, minutes from the Fed’s previous meeting and a weekly reading of jobless claims will be on the radar in an otherwise data-light week.
“Given the usual difficulty seasonally adjusting weekly data around the holidays, we would caution against overreacting to large swings either way in the claims data,” analysts at Deutsche Bank said.
The S&P 500 has added about 17% so far this year, as the frenzy to capitalize on artificial intelligence helped the U.S. benchmark overtake Europe’s STOXX 600, despite investors diversifying away from U.S. stocks earlier in the year.
DigitalBridge soared 28% after Bloomberg News reported Japan’s SoftBank was in advanced talks to acquire the digital infrastructure firm.
Trading volumes are expected to be light in the holiday-affected week with U.S. markets shut on Thursday for New Year’s Day.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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