Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq sink as Nvidia, Tesla lead Big Tech slide

Investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence has once again propelled the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks to another banner year, Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer reports.

Tesla ( TSLA ), Meta ( META ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Alphabet ( GOOG , GOOGL ), and Apple ( AAPL ) all recently hit record highs, while Nvidia ( NVDA ) shares boast a gain of more than 175% this year .

By 2025, investors expect the hype to spread further to areas such as utilities and software stocks, which will continue to benefit from Big Tech’s big AI push. Goldman Sachs U.S. equity strategist David Kostin expects the S&P 500 (^GSPC) to reach 6,500 by the end of 2025 and for the rest of the market’s gains to come closer to the big tech stocks.

The rapid earnings growth seen in large companies over the past 18 months is expected to slow, while earnings are expected to increase for the other 493 stocks in the S&P 500.

Read more about the possibilities for the earnings to be extended to the rest of the market here.

Stocks slipped deeper into the red in afternoon trade on Friday as the shortened holiday week dashed hopes of a “Santa Claus” rally to end 2024.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) lost 1.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 2.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gave up 1.1 per cent. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) hovered near seven-month highs around 4.6%.

Many of tech’s biggest names pulled down the broader marker. Tesla ( TSLA ) fell nearly 5%, while Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell 3%.

An average audience of more than 24 million people tuned in to watch a pair of NFL games on Netflix on Christmas Day, setting a streaming record for the league, according to Nielsen ratings.

Kansas City Chiefs versus Pittsburgh Steelers, which recorded an average audience of 24.1 million, and Baltimore Ravens versus Houston Texans, which brought in an average audience of 24.3 million and featured a halftime performance by Beyonce, delivered the most streamed NFL matches in history, the data showed.

“Fans in all 50 states and over 200 countries around the world saw some of the league’s brightest stars join a dazzling performance by Beyoncé on a historic day for the NFL,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution, in a statement .

Netflix’s partnership with the NFL highlights the streaming giant’s efforts to capitalize on live sports. And the fights and halftime show offered customers a bug-fee showcase after last month’s heavily criticized boxing match between social media influencer and boxer Jake Paul against Mike Tyson.

After piling up impressive gains this year, some of the biggest names in tech are losing ground as investors take profits, rebalance their portfolios or reassess their lofty valuations. Tesla (TSLA) lost more than 4% on Friday. Nvidia ( NVDA ) gave up 3%, while Amazon ( AMZN ) fell 2.5%.

Every member of the Magnificent Seven was in the red on Friday morning, dragging down the broader market and pausing the “Santa” rally heading into the final trading week of the year.

Alphabet ( GOOG , GOOGL ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) fell more than 2%, while Meta fell just under 2%. Apple shares recorded the most modest of the declines, falling 1.5% after ending at a record high on Thursday and closing at a market value of $4 trillion.

But even as investors fled the tech names, their losses come amid an epic run-up.

The US government had the country’s biggest tech giants in its sights for a long time, and in 2024 it hit the mark.

The big win came in August, when the Justice Department convinced a federal district judge that Google ( GOOG , GOOGL ) had abused its search engine dominance and violated antitrust laws.

What happened in 2024 could have future implications for some of the other big names in the tech world, reports Alexis Keenan of Yahoo Finance.

Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon ( AMZN ) and Meta ( META ) are all defending themselves against a number of other federal and state-led antitrust lawsuits, some of which make similar allegations.

So far, Wall Street doesn’t seem rattled. The so-called Magnificent Seven stocks of the world’s largest technology companies helped push the market higher in 2024, thanks in part to advances in artificial intelligence.

But the incoming Trump administration adds another layer of uncertainty to the next chapter of Big Tech’s antitrust enforcement.

Read more about Washington’s changing attitude towards the biggest technology platforms.

US stocks opened on a downbeat note as Wall Street settled for the end of a largely triumphant year.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) lost about 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 1.3% on Friday morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lost 0.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield ( ^TNX ) hovered near seven-month highs around 4.6%.

Wall Street has just three trading days left in a 2024 full of big gains and is hoping to resume a “Santa Claus” rally at the end of the year. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) is up more than 26% on the year, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) is up more than 30%. The blue-chip Dow (^DJI) is up a more modest 14%.

Airline stocks soared in 2024. The S&P Supercomposite Airlines Index is up 60% for the year — the biggest annual gain in a decade, Bloomberg reports.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) is up about 27% over that time frame.

While major airlines Delta ( DAL ) , United ( UAL ) , Alaska ( ALK ) and JetBlue ( JBLU ) all fell slightly Thursday, they are poised for annual gains well ahead of their S&P 500 peers.

United Airlines is the best performer in the group — its stock is up 144% in 2024. Meanwhile, Alaska Air Group shares are up nearly 72% for the year. Delta Air Lines rose 55% in that time frame, and JetBlue rose 41%.

American Airlines’ ( AAL ) performance was in line with its peers, while Southwest Airlines’ ( LUV ) gain of 18% for the year lagged behind.

At the same time, Spirit Airlines ( SAVEQ ) plummeted as it struggled to stay afloat after bankruptcy.