S&P 500, Nasdaq gain in choppy trading as most megacaps move higher

By Medha Singh and David French

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose on Monday in holiday-thinned trading after a stopgap government funding bill averted a U.S. government shutdown, aided by gains by many of the so-called Magnificent Seven tech stocks.

With megacap stocks having outsized influence on markets, their performance during a week in which many investors take time off will be even more pronounced.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META ), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA ) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA ) were all trading more than 2.5% higher, with Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL ) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN ) also in positive territory.

Should the gains of the benchmark indexes hold, Monday's session would mark the third straight increase for the Nasdaq Composite and a second advance in three sessions for the S&P 500. Stocks fell last Wednesday in a selloff triggered by the U.S. Federal Reserve signaling a slower pace of rate cuts next year.

After a solid run since the November presidential election, Wall Street's rally hit a bump this month, especially after the U.S. Federal Reserve forecast just two 25-basis-point rate reductions for 2025 - down from its September view of four cuts - and raised its annual inflation outlook.

A cooler-than-expected inflation report on Friday helped U.S. stocks recoup some losses. However, overall market sentiment was still cautious, said Thierry Wizman, strategist at Macquarie.

Money markets expect roughly two 25-bps reductions in 2025, which would bring the benchmark rate to a range of 3.75% to 4.0%, from a range of about 3.50% to 3.75% two weeks ago.

"It's a Monday with very few catalysts to drive (broad market) sentiment, and we're going to have low volume, likely volatile trading as we work our way out of this year," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.

Trading volumes are expected to thin, with U.S. stock markets closing early on Tuesday and shut for Christmas on Wednesday.

The United States Congress passed spending legislation early on Saturday, minutes after the funding's expiration, which could have disrupted everything from law enforcement to national parks ahead of the busy Christmas travel season.

At 1:44 p.m. EST, the S&P 500 gained 29.82 points, or 0.50%, to 5,960.67, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 163.03 points, or 0.83%, to 19,735.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 16.82 points, or 0.04%, to 42,823.44.

A majority of the S&P sectors were also higher, led by the 1.3% gain by communication services.

Markets are also entering a historically strong period for U.S. stocks. Since 1969, the last five trading days of the year, combined with the first two of the following year, have yielded an average S&P 500 gain of 1.3% - a period known as the "Santa Claus Rally", according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM )'s shares rose 3.3% after a jury found its central processors are properly licensed under an agreement with UK-based Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM ). Shares of Arm, which has vowed to seek a fresh trial, fell about 3.8%.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT ) fell 2.2% after the U.S. consumer finance watchdog accused the retail giant and workforce payments company Branch Messenger of forcing more than a million delivery drivers into using accounts that cost them more than $10 million in junk fees.



Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY ) gained 2.8% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drugmaker's weight-loss treatment, Zepbound, for obstructive sleep apnea. Shares of sleep apnea device makers ResMed and Inspire Medical (TASE:PMCN ) fell 3.7% and 1.8%, respectively.

Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN )'s shares fell 1.8% after the department store chain's founding family and Mexican retailer El Puerto de Liverpool agreed to take the company private.

Source: Investing.com