December 26, 2024

Markets:

Stock futures fell in morning trading Thursday as the market is set to give back some of the gains during the holiday week.

The major averages could see their first down day this week after back-to-back gains. So far, the S&P 500 is up 1.8% this week, while the Dow has gained about 1%. The strong rally in megacap tech lifted the Nasdaq up 2.3% week to date.

Investors were enthusiastic about the so-called Santa Claus rally, which occurs in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has generated an average return of 1.3% during this period, widely outpacing the market’s average seven-day return of 0.3%, according to LPL Research. Thursday marks the second day of the Santa rally.

Initial jobless claims data Thursday morning could provide an update on the health of the labor market.

Portfolio:

Strong start to the week so far and we enter today's session holding setups in LMND and JOBY.  We will be closely watching for volume and price activity early on. Game plan today does not change and the levels we pinpointed to start the week remain. Watch for all the DOW components to end 2024. Could be a few runners here. 

Be ready today.