A trader works on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on August 4, 2022.
Source: New York Stock Exchange
Stock futures fell in early trading Thursday as the market looked to give back some of its gains from the holiday week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 150 points. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.3%. Markets were closed on Wednesday for Christmas.
The major stock indexes are likely to fall for the first time this week after consecutive gains. So far this week, the S&P 500 is up 1.8% and the Dow is up about 1%. A strong rebound in large-cap technology stocks has pushed the Nasdaq up 2.3% so far this week.
Investors are enthusiastic about the so-called Santa Claus rally, which occurred in the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of January. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has returned an average of 1.3% during that period, far exceeding the market’s average seven-day return of 0.3%, according to LPL Research. Thursday is the second day of the Santa Claus rally.
“Santa Claus rallies are probably here to stay and they’re going to be good,” Michael Zinn, senior portfolio manager at UBS Wealth Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We’ll see, otherwise it could be tough. . “It’s a slow time of year. Institutions don’t really trade. It is more driven by retail investors. So what happens at the end of the year is not necessarily indicative of what happens in January and February. “
Thursday morning’s initial jobless claims data will likely provide the latest information on the health of the labor market.
So far this month, the S&P 500 is up 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 4.2%, helped by strong gains in Tesla, Apple and Alphabet. At the same time, however, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 3.6%, on track for its worst month since April.
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