[New York Stock Market] 'Santa Rally' Leads to Rise in Major Indices…Tesla Soars 7%

The major indices of the New York Stock Exchange all showed gains of around 1%, staging a 'Santa Rally'. Tesla surged over 7%, leading the market rise along with other tech stocks.

On the 24th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed at 6040.04, up 65.97 points (1.10%) from the previous session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 390.08 points (0.91%) to 43,297.03, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed at 20,031.13, up 266.24 points (1.35%).

On this day, the New York Stock Exchange had an early closure at 1 PM, a day before Christmas. Large-cap stocks, including Tesla (7.36%), showed an upward trend, leading the Santa Rally. Typically, a Santa Rally refers to the phenomenon where stock indices rise from just before Christmas through the end of the year and into the beginning of the next year.

Apple rose over 1%, nearing a market capitalization of $4 trillion, and Amazon and Meta also rose over 1%.

Broadcom (3.15%) and Nvidia (0.39%) among semiconductor stocks closed higher, benefiting from the Biden administration's investigation into unfair trade practices of Chinese legacy semiconductors.

Palantir, recently spotlighted as an AI-related stock, jumped over 4% on the day, hitting an all-time high. Compared to the beginning of the year, it has surged over 390%.

By sector, consumer discretionary rose over 2%, recording the strongest growth rate. Finance, technology, and communication services also rose over 1%.

Matt Maley, a market strategist at investment firm 'Miller Tabak', told Bloomberg, "Looking at the movements over the past few weeks, it's clear that large tech stocks are the core leading group in the market," and "They hold a very high proportion in the portfolios of numerous institutional investors, and this trend is expected to continue for the time being."

According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) FedWatch Tool, the probability of the US Federal Reserve holding the benchmark interest rate steady in January next year is reflected at 91.4%.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX) recorded 14.27, down 2.51 points (14.96%) from the previous session.

Goh Jung-sam, Hankyung.com reporter jsk@hankyung.com