Overview
- U.S. stocks opened lower Monday on profit-taking, with the Nasdaq down about 0.5%, the Dow off roughly 0.5%, and the S&P 500 slipping around 0.35%.
- The retreat follows a holiday week that ended with five straight up sessions and weekly gains of about 1.2% to 1.4%, leaving the S&P 500 near 6,929.94 and close to record territory.
- Selling pressure centered on large technology names, with Nvidia, Tesla, Palantir and Micron trading lower in premarket moves of up to roughly 1.5%.
- The year-end rally has been underpinned by easier policy, including three Fed rate cuts since mid-September, the halt of quantitative tightening on December 1, and roughly $40 billion in December liquidity injections.
- Traders are watching the Santa Claus period through January 5 and the release of the December Fed meeting minutes on Tuesday for near-term direction.