US: Stocks little changed at end of post-holiday session

WALL Street stocks finished a low-key session little changed on Thursday (Dec 26) as US Treasury bond yields retreated and a report pointed to higher holiday retail sales.

Holiday consumer data showed a 3.8 per cent increase in US retail spending from Nov 1 to Dec 24, according to a Mastercard SpendingPulse review of a key period for retailers.

“Solid spending during this holiday season underscores the strength we observed from the consumer all year,” said Michelle Meyer, chief economist for the Mastercard Economics Institute.

Equities veered in and out of positive territory throughout the post-Christmas trading round when several overseas bourses were closed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.1 per cent at 43,325.80.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped less than 0.04 per cent to 6,037.59, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.1 per cent to 20,020.36.

Large technology companies that have led the market in much of 2024 mostly took a breather. These included Netflix, Tesla and Amazon, all of which declined.

“What’s interesting today is that we are seeing small stocks bounce back a little bit,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers, noting that the Russell 2000 index put on 0.9 per cent.

Among individual companies, United States Steel fell 3.0 per cent after would-be acquirer Nippon Steel of Japan pushed back the timeframe of its targeted acquisition to the first quarter of 2025 from the fourth quarter of 2024.

The move came after a US government panel could not reach consensus on whether the transaction harmed US national security, pushing the decision to President Joe Biden, who has criticised the takeover. AFP