It's the holiday season, but the stock market's festivities have been anything but cheerful this week.

At the week's start traders were buoyed by a record-breaking Nasdaq 100 topping 22,000 and an optimistic outlook on interest rate cuts ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting.

All signs pointed to the Santa Rally – a time Wall Street traditionally celebrates with stocks climbing during the final stretch of the year – making its grand entrance yet again in 2025.

Yet, just as traders were preparing for a festive year-end bull run, the Grinch arrived midweek to throw a wrench in the celebrations.