U.S. stocks jumped on Friday after a sluggish start to the year. The benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite managed to snap a five-day losing streak, although they still finished the week in the red.
S&P 500 jumped by 1.26% or 73.92 points to close at 5,942.47, while Nasdaq closed at 19,621.68 after gaining 1.77% or 340.88. However, the S&P 500 lost 0.48% for the week, while the Nasdaq was down 0.51%.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.80%, or 339.86, to close at 42,732.13 on Friday. However, it suffered the biggest weekly slide among major indexes, with a loss of 0.60%.
Tech stocks were the biggest drivers of Friday’s rally. Electric vehicle maker Tesla jumped by 8.22% after record-high sales in China, while chipmaker Nvidia improved by 4.45%, and server company Super Micro Computer climbed by almost 11%. However, these gains were not enough for the so-called “Santa Claus rally” to materialize.
Santa Claus rally refers to a historical trend in stocks records significant gains on the last five days of December and the first two days of the New Year. However, most experts believe that this shouldn’t be an indicator of stock performance in 2025 but a sign that many investors decided to take time and consolidate their portfolios before engaging in trading activity once again.