U.S. Market Overview

U.S. main indexes opened lower on Thursday as trading resumed after the Christmas holiday.

The New York Stock Exchange closed early on Tuesday for Christmas Eve, and the market was shut on Christmas Day. Trading volumes were expected to be thin for the remaining sessions in this holiday-shortened week.

After the market opened, the S&P 500 fell 0.24% to 6,025.80 points, the NASDAQ Composite dropped 0.22% to 19,986.95, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.31% to 43,164.44 points as of 9:45 AM ET (14:45 GMT).

Jobless Claims in U.S. Dip to One-Month Low

The weekly U.S. jobless claims data released before the market opened showed a dip to a one-month low. The Labor Department reported a decrease of 1,000 in initial applications for state unemployment benefits, bringing the seasonally adjusted figure to 219,000 for the week ending December 21. This figure is lower than the 224,000 claims that economists had predicted for the same week.

Meanwhile, the number of individuals receiving benefits after their first week of aid—a measure of hiring—increased by 46,000, bringing the seasonally adjusted total to 1.910 million for the week that ended on December 14, the highest since November 2021. Economists had previously anticipated these continued claims to be 1.880 million.

Tech Stocks Mostly Downward

The major tech giants were mostly down after markets opened, with Apple showing the only positive trend. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) fell 0.76%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) was down 0.5%, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) dropped 0.9%, and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) declined by 0.4%. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) gained 0.1%, with Wedbush raising its price target on Apple to $325 from $300, banking on a transformative AI-driven iPhone upgrade cycle expected to fuel growth into 2025.

Last Week's Fed-Induced Slump

The U.S. Federal Reserve projected fewer-than-expected cuts in 2025 last week, leading to sharp falls in all three major indexes and a weekly decline on Wall Street. The Fed signaled a cautious approach to monetary policy adjustments, emphasizing the need for continued progress on inflation before considering further rate cuts. Markets scaled back rate cut expectations after the Fed meeting, now pricing in just two more cuts in the upcoming year. Wall Street gradually shrugged off rate outlook concerns after PCE inflation data came in slightly softer than expected.