By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wall Street see-sawed to a lower close on Thursday amid choppy trading, as investors embarked on the new year facing the cross-currents of solid labor market data, a rising dollar and tumbling Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares.
All three major U.S. stocks ended the session in negative territory, a reversal of an earlier rally but off session lows.
"We had some macro news but somewhat mixed and you know we have a very strong dollar today," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. "There are a few hurdles over the next couple of weeks and those are next Friday’s employment data and the beginning of fourth quarter earnings."
"In the short term, we’re looking at choppiness and a struggle for direction until we get those hurdles out of the way," Cardillo added.
Shares of Tesla sank 6.1% after reporting its first annual drop in deliveries, as incentives failed to stem a decline in demand for its aging line-up of electric vehicles.
A report from the Labor Department showed initial and continuing claims for unemployment benefits both fell last week, supporting the narrative of a solid jobs market and adding weight to the possibility that the U.S. central bank could let its key interest rate stand at this month's policy meeting.
Looking past uncertainties regarding the pace of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, policies to be enacted by the incoming Donald Trump administration and various hot spots of geopolitical unrest, market participants chose to focus on the strength of the United States economy.
Wall Street's main indexes notched double-digit gains in 2024, with the benchmark S&P 500 recording its best two-year run since 1997-1998. Those gains were driven by the U.S. Federal Reserve's first rate cuts in three-and-a-half years, the ongoing artificial intelligence boom and expectations of pro-business policies from the incoming Trump administration.
The rally lost steam in the closing weeks of 2024, with the S&P 500 and the Dow marking declines for December, as markets priced in the likelihood of fewer rate cuts from the Fed this year.
The S&P and the Nasdaq have now posted five consecutive sessions in the red, their longest losing streaks since mid-April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 151.95 points, or 0.36%, to 42,392.27, the S&P 500 lost 13.08 points, or 0.22%, to 5,868.55 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 30.00 points, or 0.16%, to 19,280.79.
Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, consumer discretionary stocks were down the most, weighed by Tesla.
Energy shares, buoyed by rising crude prices enjoyed the largest percentage gains.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) lost 2.6% as the gadgetmaker offered rare discounts in China in order to compete against domestic rivals.
Crypto stocks such as Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), MicroStrategy and MARA Holdings gained between 2.6% and 3.6%, tracking rising Bitcoin prices.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.14-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 77 new highs and 114 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,386 stocks rose and 1,988 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.2-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 60 new highs and 34 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.01 billion shares, compared with the 14.92 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.