new york — Global stock markets mostly fell Monday in jittery holiday trading ahead of a potentially tumultuous 2025 that will see Donald Trump return to the White House.
Wall Street’s three main indices slumped to end the day, adding to losses Friday that ended Wall Street’s usual holiday-period “Santa Claus rally.”
“We can’t drive major conclusions in a holiday-shortened and thin-trading-volume week, but last week’s price action looked pretty close to the narrative of rotation from tech to non-tech stocks that many investors expect to be the theme of next year,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
U.S. tech stocks had led the losses Friday, with Elon Musk’s electric car giant Tesla shedding around 5% and AI chipmaker Nvidia off around 2%.
Shares in Tesla fell 3.3% Monday, although Nvidia shares nudged higher.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said there was no news catalyst for the weakness.
“The selling interest, then, has profit-taking activity written on it with a P.S. presumably of rebalancing interest,” he said.
But “there isn’t a rebalancing push in the stock market this morning. The weakness is broad-based,” he said.
Weighing on sentiment were worries about slower-than-hoped-for U.S. interest rate cuts and possible higher import tariffs once Trump is inaugurated on January 20.
Yields on U.S. government debt dipped Monday but have pushed higher at the longer-dated maturities on worries about higher inflation and interest rates, with the yield on 10-year bonds hitting 4.63% recently.
“If yields continue to hold at these levels, or push higher toward 5.0%, then this will be a strong headwind for equity prices,” said Trade Nation analyst David Morrison.
This comes as investors choose the relative safety of a near-guaranteed 5% return on funds in U.S. Treasuries, compared with the uncertainty of stocks, he noted.
In Europe, the main indices in Frankfurt, London and Paris all finished lower. Trading wrapped up for the year in Frankfurt, with the DAX rising 18.8% for the year, including breaching the 20,000 level for the first time.
In Asia, Tokyo closed down almost 1% Monday, its last day of trading until January 6.
Nissan dropped as much as 6.7% on worries about its possible merger with fellow Japanese automaker Honda.
Overall, the Nikkei 225 index gained almost 20% in 2024, finally surpassing the high seen before Japan’s asset bubble burst in the 1990s.
In Seoul, Jeju Air shares fell as much as 15% after one of its planes crashed in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179 people.
Another Jeju Air flight had to return after encountering a landing gear problem Monday, the airline said.
Korean authorities ordered an inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s carriers.
Shares in Boeing fell 5.3% as trading got under way in New York — but recovered slightly afterward.
South Korea was also hit with further political turmoil, with authorities issuing an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law.
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