S&P 500 soared in 2024 despite a weak fourth quarter

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

End of year celebrations for markets
US stocks ended the last trading day of 2024 on a negative note, but they finished the year higher. Asia-Pacific markets it fell on tuesdaywhich was a shortened trading day for many stock exchanges. China’s CSI 300 ended the year 15% higher, snapping its three-year losing streak, although it lost 1.6% on the day.

Bitcoin to $200,000 in 2024?
Bitcoin broke the $100,000 level in December 2024 after Donald Trump, widely seen as friendly to the cryptocurrency, won the US elections. Industry leaders and crypto investors see strong momentum for bitcoin, with many predicting that it will increase to $200,000 this year.

Nippon Steel offers US veto power
The fate of Nippon Steel planned acquisition of US Steel he rests with the American president Joe Biden, who has until January 7 to decide. In an attempt to convince Biden, Nippon Steel offered to give it to the US government veto power over any cuts to US Steel’s production capacitysaid Reuters, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The price of the AI ​​model cut by Alibaba
Alibaba is it slashing prices on its visual language model up to 85%, the company announced on Tuesday. The model, called Qwen-VL, is designed to understand texts and images. Alibaba’s move signals growing competition among Chinese tech giants as they aim to gain market share for their artificial intelligence products.

[PRO] The top and bottom stocks of 2024
The Magnificent Seven stock basket have fed S&P 500 ahead for most of 2024. But only one of them achieved a podium in the three best performing stocks of the year – and he didn’t even win a gold medal. U three worst performing stockssurprisingly, it included a market leader in technology.

A brilliant start, a saggy middle and then a flat tonfou – that was the trajectory of the S&P 500 last year.

The broad-based index will hit through the gates from the beginning of 2024. In the first quarter of the year, it jumped 10.2%. That’s more than 10 times its average earnings since 2000, noted CNBC’s Robert Hum.

This moment could not be sustained. The S&P added 3.9% and 5.5% in the second and third quarters, respectively, of 2024. In any other year, investors would not be disappointed with these figures. But the index’s first-quarter performance set the bar so high that subsequent quarters pale in comparison.

In the last quarter of 2024, the S&P limped forward only 1.9%. Making matters worse, someone out there was being mean, preventing Santa from making his typical end-of-the-year display at the stock market.

Of course, a gain is a gain. But it is difficult not to feel disappointed when looking back at the high we started in 2024, or when comparing it with the average gain of the fourth quarter of 4.2% since 2000.

That said, a relatively weak end of the year was not enough to derail the rise of the S&P in 2024. The index rises 23.31% in 2024 – notching. 57 records close along the way – after a growth of 24.2% in 2023.

Artificial intelligence stocks were behind much of the gains of 2024. Shares of Nvidia shot 171%, while Broadcomwhich a portfolio manager called “the next Nvidia in terms of superperformance potential,” jumped 108%.

But uncertainties await the markets this year. Investors will have to deal with the policies of the incoming Trump administration, possibly higher than expected interest rates for the year, which in turn will keep Treasury yields high, among other headwinds.

The start of 2025 could be bumpy. Strap in.

— CNBC’s Robert Hum, Jesse Pound, Gina Francolla and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.