After Hours Report

It was a somewhat lackluster session. The major indices mostly traded around their prior closing levels. The Russell 2000 outperformed other indices, settling 0.9% higher, reflecting some speculative buying interest in a thinly-traded market after the holiday break. 

Choppy action in some mega cap names contributed to the mixed moves in the three major indices. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) traded up as much as 0.1% at its session high and as down as much as 0.7% at its low.

The price action in the S&P 500 sectors was muted and none of the sectors moved more than 0.6% in either direction. The financial (+0.2%) and health care (+0.2%) sectors were the top performers and the consumer discretionary sector logged the largest decline, dropping 0.6%.

Market rates were already elevated and selling picked up in response to the better-than-expected initial jobless claims report. Weekly initial jobless claims for the week ending December 21 checked in at a lower than expected 219,000 (Briefing.com consensus 232,000) while continuing jobless claims for the week ending December 14 hit their highest (1.910 million) since November 13, 2021.

Treasuries ultimately settled with gains, though, after the $44 billion 7-yr note auction at 1:00 p.m. ET was met with strong dollar demand and interest from indirect bidders. The 10-yr yield hit 4.64% shortly after the jobs data, but settled one basis point lower than Tuesday at 4.58%. 

• Nasdaq Composite: +33.4% YTD
• S&P 500: +26.6% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +15.0% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: +13.9% YTD
• Russell 2000: +12.5% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:

• Weekly Initial Claims 219K (Briefing.com consensus 232K); Prior 220K, Weekly Continuing Claims 1.910 mln; Prior was revised to 1.864 mln from 1.874 mln
  • The key takeaway from the report is that layoff activity is low; however, if one loses their job, it is becoming more challenging to find a new position.

Looking ahead to Friday, market participants receive the following economic data: 

• 08:30 ET: November Adv. Intl. Trade in Goods (prior -$99.1B), Adv. Retail Inventories (prior 0.1%), and Adv. Wholesale Inventories (0.2%)
• 10:30 ET: EIA Natural Gas Inventories (prior -125 bcf)
• 13:00 ET: EIA Crude oil Inventories (prior -0.934M)

Overseas:

• Europe: DAX closed for holiday, FTSE closed for holiday, CAC closed for holiday
• Asia: Nikkei +1.1%, Hang Seng closed for holiday, Shanghai +0.1%

Commodities:

• Crude Oil -0.14 @ 69.65
• Nat Gas -0.24 @ 3.70
• Gold +19.10 @ 2654.00
• Silver +0.11 @ 30.40
• Copper +0.02 @ 4.13

After-Hours Spotlight:

• First Hawaiian (FHB) Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Christopher Dods to resign, effective March 31, 2025... FHB up 1.0%
• Fluence (FLNC): Director bought 10000 shares at $15.568 worth ~$156K... FLNC up 1.1%
• Martin Midstream (MMLP) announces termination of merger agreement with Martin Resource Mgmt... MMLP down 1.8%
• Seadrill Ltd (SDRL) has completed the sale of the jack-up rig West Prospero for cash proceeds of $45 mln... SDRL up 0.8%

Fair Value for Friday, Dec 27:

• S&P 500: 6,099
• Nasdaq 100: 22,015
• DJIA: 43,717

For a full rundown of today's market and after hours developments, see Live In Play

• Earnings/Guidance (Full Earnings Calendar):
  • Toyota Motor (TM) is targeting an ROE of 20% by 2030
• General News
  • President Biden directed the Department of Defense to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine
  • President-elect Trump is expected to roll back many clean energy subsidies, according to New York Times
  • Mastercard SpendingPulse says US retail sales excluding automotive increased 3.8% yr/yr from November 1 through December 24
  • The PBOC left its MLF rate unchanged at 2.00%, as expected, and withdrew a net CNY1.15 trillion that was the largest withdrawal since 2014, according to Bloomberg
  • South Korea's opposition party says it will attempt to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo, driving the Korean won to its lowest level against dollar since the global financial crisis
  • EVs projected to outsell gas cars in China next year, according to FT
  • Alibaba (BABA) aiming to merge South Korean unit with E-Mart's e-commerce platform, according to Bloomberg
  • Boston Beer (SAM) Chairman Jim Koch says his wife will inherit his controlling interest, according to The Wall Street Journal
  • DXC Technology (DXC) operating system issue caused American Airlines (AAL) one hour ground stop, according to Reuters
  • Eli Lilly (LLY): Elon Musk says he is taking Eli Lilly's Mounjaro
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) resolved at its Board of Directors meeting held on December 26, 2024 to dispose of its treasury shares through a third-party allotment to Johnson & Johnson Innovation
  • KKR (KKR) and Bain aiming to bid for Seven & I Holdings (SVNDY) assets, according to Reuters
  • Li Auto (LI) aiming to expand into AI and robot firm, according to SCMP
  • Lyft (LYFT) files lawsuit against San Francisco for $100 mln in overcharged taxes, according to Bloomberg
  • Samsung (SSNLF) will soon lower 2025 foldable phone targets, according to Digitimes

Ratings Changes (see Upgrades/Downgrades calendar for full list):

• Upgrades:
  • EverQuote (EVER) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James; tgt $35
  • Progressive (PGR) upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James; tgt $305
  • RAPT Therapeutics (RAPT) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at H.C. Wainwright; tgt $10
• Downgrades:
  • Hagerty (HGTY) downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James
• Others:
  • Apple (AAPL) target raised to $325 from $300 at Wedbush
  • Palvella Therapeutics (PVLA) initiated with a Buy at H.C. Wainwright; tgt $38

• Econ Data (Friday):
  • 08:30 ET: November Adv. Intl. Trade in Goods (prior -$99.1B), Adv. Retail Inventories (prior 0.1%), and Adv. Wholesale Inventories (0.2%)
  • 10:30 ET: EIA Natural Gas Inventories (prior -125 bcf)
  • 13:00 ET: EIA Crude oil Inventories (prior -0.934M)
• Earnings:
  • Monday (Dec 23)
    • Pre-Market: None
    • After-Hours: None
  • Tuesday (Dec 24)
    • Pre-Market: None
    • After-Hours: None
  • Wednesday (Dec 25)
    • Market closed for Christmas Day
  • Thursday (Dec 26)
    • Pre-Market: None
    • After-Hours: None
  • Friday (Dec 27)
    • Pre-Market: None
    • After-Hours: None
General Motors: 5,000 members at GM's Arlington, TX assembly plant join UAW strike