US Markets Recap: Three Indexes Moved Lower on the Fed's Hawkish Stance
Go Wire
December 20, 2024
GoGPT Summarizes Articles
On Thursday (December 19th), the US stock market opened higher but closed lower, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closing lower, and the Dow ending its ten-time losing streak with a modest 0.04% gain. The Fed's hawkish stance and rising 10-year US Treasury yields put US stocks under pressure.
Specifically, US stocks retreated. The Dow once rose over 460 points; the S&P 500 index climbed over 1%. However, at the close, the Dow was up 0.036%. The S&P 500 index fell 0.087%. The Nasdaq dipped 0.1%.
The withdrawal is mainly because the 10-year Treasury yield rises 5 basis points to 4.554%, indicating that the hawkish approach the Federal Reserve announced at its December policy meeting still affects the market.
Sector-wise, large tech stocks were mostly higher, with the CNBC Magnificent 7 Index (MAG7: Exchange) up 0.21%. Within Magnificent 7 stocks, $NVDA Nvidia gained 1.37%. $AMZN Amazon rose 1.26%. $AAPL Apple leaped up 0.70%. $GOOGL Google climbed 0.058%. $MSFT Microsoft fell 0.082%. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) dropped 0.27%. $TSLA Tesla slid 0.90%.
US-listed Chinese stocks were mixed. The NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index (INDEXNASDAQ: HXC) was down 0.06%.
The cryptocurrency market dived. Bitcoin price once fell below $96,000 per coin. As of press time, $BTC trades at $97,089.93 per coin. CoinGlass data showed that over 300,000 people were forced into liquidation in the cryptocurrencies on Thursday.
$NUKK Nukkleus' stock jumped over 42% once. It had risen and fallen, closing up 2.58% but plunging 11.17% after hours. Its volatility followed a strategic acquisition by Nukkleus. The fintech company specializing in the cryptocurrency acquired a 51% controlling stake in Star 26 Capital Inc, a shareholder of Israeli defense suppliers. The acquisition signals Nukkleus' invasion into defense. Manny Shalom, Nukkleus' CEO, said that the company intended to reposition itself by taking advantage of the growing defense sector.
International precious metals futures are mixed. At press time, Silver Futures - Mar 25 is down 0.19%. Gold Futures - Feb 25 is up 0.1%. This week, the Fed unexpectedly signaled a slower pace of rate cuts. The projected frequency of rate cuts in 2025 was reduced to two from four. Afterward, international gold prices tumbled, once dropping over $2,600 per ounce.
However, many institutions remain bullish on precious metals. German precious metals service provider Heraeus recently reported that gold is expected to rise to $2,950 per ounce, reaching a new high in 2025, because central banks demand gold, as a safe-haven asset, amid ongoing geopolitical risks.
For silver, Heraeus suggests that silver is expected to rise in 2025, driven by the rising demand in the photovoltaic industry.
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