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The S&P rose 24% but limped to the finish line. (0:11) Investors see a tougher 2025 in store. (1:43) The most popular stories of 2024 (hint: quantum). (2:16)
The following is an abridged transcript:
2024 on Wall Street is in the books.
On the last day of trading, stocks limped to the finish line with the major averages closing in the red. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) fell -0.9%, the S&P 500 (SP500) lost -0.4% and the Dow (DJI) finished barely down.
That made it four-straight losing sessions for the S&P to close out the year. Strategist Ryan Dettrick at Carson Group notes that it’s the longest year-end losing streak since 1966. But stocks did gain 20% in 1967.
Now for those keeping score at home, here’s how the major asset classes performed last year.
In stocks, the S&P rose 24% to 5,881.63. The Nasdaq Composite gained nearly 31% to finish at 19,310.79 and the Dow Industrials underperformed, finishing up nearly 13% to 42,544.22.
In the small-cap arena, the Russell 2000 (RTY) added 10% to 2,230.16.
In the bond market, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) added 71 basis points to end the year at 4.58%. The fed funds rate ended the year at a range of 4.25-4.5% following a 50 bps cut in September and two quarter-point cuts in November and December to close out the year.
WTI crude oil (CL1:COM) fell 1.3% to $71.72/barrel, while gold (XAUUDS:CUR) rallied 24.5% to 2,624.38/oz and silver (XAGUSD:CUR) gained 21.5% to $28.88/oz.
And bitcoin (BTC-USD) jumped 111.5%, moving into trading in the new year around $94,000.
We look next to what Seeking Alpha subscribers are expecting for this coming year.
Based on the average from Wall Street Breakfast’s Sentiment Survey for 2025, the S&P target for next year is 6,241 — an upside of 6%.
But the biggest cohort of respondents (54%) see the benchmark index climbing to 6,500, which would result in an increase of 10.5% for the year.
Stocks are also seen as the best asset class, with four-fifths of subscribers putting most of their investing capital there, compared to bonds, commodities, cash and crypto.
And what sparked reader interest this year? AI made way for quantum, but there was room for old favorites like the Fed and income stocks and a love of lists.
The 10 most popular news stories among subscribers were:
- Quantum plays ranked by their Seeking Alpha Quant Rating scores
- Worst performers that could see a bounce after tax-loss selling
- Top dividend picks for 2025
- What Wall Street analysts are saying as they catch up to the quantum trade
- The 25 highest conviction picks for 2025 from UBS
- 10 oversold stocks with strong potential
- The big December stock selloff after the Fed reined in easing expectations
- End-of-the-year insider trades
- Google’s CEO telling employees to brace for a challenging 2025
- The upshot of Micron’s weak Q2 outlook
Read the full article here