On Tuesday, the three major indices rose collectively. As of the time of publication, $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ up 0.44%,$Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ up 0.10, $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ up 0.73%.

It is expected that trading will be light this week. US markets will be closed on Wednesday for Christmas, and will close early at 1 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday.

On Monday, US stocks finished higher, led by technology and semiconductor stocks. The S&P 500 Index increased by 0.7%, the NASDAQ Index rose by about 1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained nearly 0.2% at the close.

With few trading days left this year, some investors are hoping for a "Christmas rally" to help US stocks finish the year's trading on a strong note. This has historical precedent. According to the Stock Trader‘s Almanac, since 1969, the S&P 500 Index has averaged a 1.3% increase during the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days in January.

The S&P 500 Index is expected to achieve impressive annual returns, marking two consecutive years of over a 20% increase. Since the end of 2023, the index has risen by about 25%. The top seven technology stocks contributed to more than half of the gains, although market breadth has improved in the second half of the year.

Data from Bank of America indicates that the second half of December is typically the second strongest period for US stocks during the year. Moreover, in December of US presidential election years, the S&P 500 Index has increased 83% of the time.

However, Jay Hatfield, an analyst at Infrastructure Capital Advisors, believes that the market will stagnate in the coming days. He insists that the target for the S&P 500 Index at the end of 2024 is 6000 points, which implies only a 0.4% increase from Monday's closing price.

Hatfield stated, "We may experience a Christmas rally, but the upward momentum will not be that strong. We are taking a Neutral stance on the market."

Alberto Tocchio, portfolio manager at Kairos Partners, remarked, "This year ends with a strong recovery in the US market, thanks to the increase in market breadth. The reality is that US growth has unexpectedly shown resilience, while Europe still faces the challenge of weak growth."

With only a few trading days left, some investors hope that the Santa Claus rally can cap a year that has already been strong for the market. This is not entirely unusual. According to the stock trader's almanac, since 1969, the S&P 500 Index has averaged a 1.3% increase from the last five trading days of the year to the first two trading days in January.

With only a few days until the New Year, investors are focusing on any developments related to the January 20 inauguration of the USA's elected president Donald Trump.

The expected policies of the incoming president are believed to bring inflation and have already been considered in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy outlook. The European Central Bank, which has been cutting rates consecutively this year, has hinted that Europe under Trump could face trade tensions with the USA.

The Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee will welcome a new group of voting members, including several hawkish officials, while the renewed concerns over inflation add a new layer of complexity to the Fed's decision-making.

the Federal Open Market Committee(FOMC) is responsible for voting on changes in interest rates. In addition to the seven Federal Reserve Governors and the President of the New York Federal Reserve, the committee also includes the rotating presidents from 11 regional Federal Reserve Banks, of which only four regional presidents have voting rights, rotating annually.

The NASDAQ 100 is undergoing rebalancing: weights for Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Broadcom are decreasing, while weights for Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Alphabet are increasing.

Specific data shows that in$NASDAQ 100 Index (.NDX.US)$In the market, the weight of Apple rose from 9.2% last Friday to 9.8%, NVIDIA increased from 7.9% to 8.4%, and Microsoft and Amazon also saw an increase, while Alphabet's rise was relatively small. Meanwhile, Broadcom's weight dropped from 6.3% to 4.4%, Tesla fell from 4.9% to 3.9%, and Meta's weight decreased from 4.9% to 3.3%.

Focus on individual stocks

Star technology stocks rose across the board,$Tesla (TSLA.US)$ is up over 4%, $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ 、 $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ 、 $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ Increased by over 1%.

Quantum Computing stocks have decreased, $Rigetti Computing (RGTI.US)$ down 3.58%, $Quantum Computing (QUBT.US)$ down nearly 10%.

$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$Bitcoin returned to $97,000, and Cryptos concept stocks rose altogether. $Hut 8 (HUT.US)$ Increased by over 10%, $TeraWulf (WULF.US)$Increased by more than 7%, $MicroStrategy (MSTR.US)$ Increased by nearly 6%.

As the fourth quarter is about to end, $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ Attempting to break the previous delivery record. A report from Barclays on Monday estimated Tesla's total deliveries for the fourth quarter at 0.515 million vehicles. As of the time of writing, Tesla is up 4%.

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ Up 0.52%, reaching a new high during trading. The next generation chip series includes M5, M5 Pro, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra, which will be launched gradually starting next year.

$Meta Platforms (META.US)$ Up 0.5%, with its AI glasses being popular. Goldman Sachs: October app downloads related to it surged by 200% year-on-year.

$Palantir (PLTR.US)$ Fresh historical highs again, intraday rising nearly 5%, currently up 4%, with a total market value of 193.131 billion USD.

$Rumble (RUM.US)$ Continuing to rise over 10%, the stock surged over 81% yesterday, recently announcing the final agreement for a strategic investment of 0.775 billion USD with the issuer of Tether.

$American Airlines (AAL.US)$ The stock price decline has narrowed, previously the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated that due to technical issues, the Airlines grounded all flights in the USA on one of the busiest air travel days of the year. Currently, the company has lifted the grounding order.

Editor/Rocky