The U.Sstock market displayed a mixed performance on Thursday, December 26, with fluctuations throughout the trading day across the major indexesWhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average achieved another victory, marking its fifth consecutive day of gains, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq experienced slight losses.

By the end of the day, the Dow Jones had risen 0.07%, finishing the session at 43,325.80 points; meanwhile, the S&P 500 dipped 0.04% to settle at 6,037.59 points, and the Nasdaq Composite slightly decreased by 0.05%, ending at 20,020.36 points, thus breaking its three-day winning streak.

The previous trading day had witnessed the S&P 500 achieving its best performance on Christmas Eve since 1974. By the close of the market on Thursday, the benchmarks showed notable weekly gains, with the S&P 500 up by 1.80%, the Nasdaq increasing by 2.29%, and the Dow gaining 1.13%.

Market analysts have attributed the steady performance to a combination of holiday-related trading conditions and investor optimism surrounding a potential “Santa Claus rally.” According to data from LPL Financial, since 1950, the S&P 500 has recorded an average return of 1.3% during the last seven trading days of the year.

Michael Zinn, a senior portfolio manager at UBS Wealth Management, shared insights with the media, noting, “The rally may well continue, and the momentum is strong

We’re keeping a close eye on it, of course; it could also present a tough test.”

Zinn further elaborated, “This is typically a quieter time of yearInstitutional investors are largely retreating from the market, which tends to be more driven by retail investorsThus, the dynamics at year-end don’t necessarily forecast January and February trends.”

On the economic front, new data indicated that the number of Americans filing continuing unemployment claims rose to 1.91 million, the highest level in over three yearsThis figure has been consistently climbing since the beginning of the year, highlighting the challenging nature of the U.Sjob market and suggesting that those out of work face increasing difficulties in securing new employment.

Conversely, first-time unemployment claims showed a slight decline to 219,000, confirming the assessment made last week by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who remarked that the labor market remains robust overall, even though it is showing signs of cooling—a situation not at a level that would provoke concern.

Turning to individual stock performances, on that same December 26th trading day, amidst the fluctuations of the major indices, only Apple among the so-called “Magnificent Seven” tech giants saw a rise in its stock value

Apple’s shares increased by 0.32%, bringing the price to $259.02. This marked the fourth consecutive trading day of hitting historical highs, boosting its total market capitalization to $3.915 trillionIntraday, Apple's stock even briefly climbed above $260, a noteworthy achievement.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, made headlines by announcing an increase in Apple’s target price from $300 to $325. Ives is optimistic about the market potential and innovation of the upcoming iPhone 16 series, which he believes could significantly boost Apple’s product sales, acting as a catalyst for ushering in a “new golden age” for the tech titan.

In contrast, the other six tech giants saw declines; NVIDIA fell by 0.21%, Microsoft by 0.28%, Alphabet’s Class C shares decreased by 0.24%, Amazon was down 0.87%, Meta dropped 0.72%, and Tesla took the largest hit at 1.76%. However, Broadcom managed to increase by 2.37%.

Among automotive stocks, Honda gained 4.11% as it officially entered into merger negotiations with Nissan

Additionally, SoundHound AI, a stock associated with NVIDIA, soared by 19.71%, marking an impressive year-to-date increase of 1042.92%. Serve Robotics also gained ground with a rise of 24.75%.

In the realm of quantum computing, several stocks made significant advances, with Quantum rising nearly 50%, Rigetti Computing increasing by over a third, and Quantum Computing and IONQ Incboth up around 12% and 8%, respectively.

Looking at Chinese stocks listed in the U.S., the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index experienced a positive day, increasing by 0.42% and marking its fourth consecutive riseMany notable Chinese stocks shared in this upward momentum, with Zeekr gaining 8.64%, Li Auto rising 3.60%, XPeng increasing by 2.16%, and NIO up by 1.52%. Alibaba and TAL Education also saw modest gains, while Pinduoduo and JD.com fell by narrower margins.

In corporate news, KULR Technology Group, a U.S

alefox

battery technology firm, announced a foray into Bitcoin investmentThey revealed on their website the launch of a “Bitcoin Reserve,” completing a transaction amounting to approximately $21 million for 217.18 Bitcoins, at an average price of $96,556.53 per coinThis led to a remarkable surge in KULR’s stock price, which skyrocketed by 40.35% by the market’s close.

In another notable development, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued airworthiness directives for certain Boeing 777 aircraft modelsAccording to the U.SFederal Register, the FAA suggested new directives for specific Boeing series including the 777-200, -200LR, -300, -300ER, and 777F, citing reports of anomalous glide path beam behavior during instrument landing approachesThe FAA mandated the installation of updated autopilot command computer software and required software configuration checks for the affected aircraft models.