Stocks edged lower on Wall Street Thursday morning as U.S. markets reopened for trading after the Christmas holiday.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2%. The benchmark index is coming off a three-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 64 points, or 0.2%, as of 10:02 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%.
Big Tech stocks were among the biggest weights on the market. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, slipped 0.8%. Google parent Alphabet fell 0.7% and Netflix gave up 0.9%. Meta Platforms was 1.1% lower.
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits held steady last week, though continuing claims rose to the highest level in three years, the Labor Department reported.
Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.63% from 4.59% late Tuesday.
Major European markets were closed, as well as Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.
Trading was expected to be subdued this week with a thin slate of economic data on the calendar.
Still, U.S. markets have historically gotten a boost at year’s end despite lower trading volumes. The last five trading days of each year, plus the first two in the new year, have brought an average gain of 1.3% since 1950.
So far this month, the U.S. stock market has lost some of its gains since President-elect Donald Trump’s win on Election Day, which raised hopes for faster economic growth and more lax regulations that would boost corporate profits. Worries have risen that Trump’s preference for tariffs and other policies could lead to higher inflation, a bigger U.S. government debt and difficulties for global trade.
Even so, the U.S. market remains on pace to deliver strong returns for 2024. The benchmark S&P 500 is up roughly 26% so far this year and remains near its most recent all-time high it set earlier this month — its latest of 57 record highs this year.
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AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed.
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