TheDrop Market Analysis, 12/18/24

Stocks sank on Wednesday as Fed foreshadows glooming year for rate cuts.

While stocks looked healthy during the morning entering into the noon, by the afternoon stocks suddenly slipped to extremely low levels. This was when the Fed announced its intention to commit to less rate cuts during early 2025, citing lingering inflation, causing many investors to panic in a large wave of selling pressure.

Stocks all across the board sank by very considerable margins. The S&P sharply fell 3%, the Nasdaq 3.6%, and the Dow 2.6%. The Dow continued its long streak of constant decline, solidifying its longest losing streak in 50 years.

Tesla marked one of the deepest declines out of any large stock, falling by a whopping 8.6% after previously in a winning streak. Apple fell by over 2%, Intel sank 5.6%, Nvidia fell 1.1%, and Microsoft fell by almost 4%, to name a few. Quite shockingly, these stocks were performing very well in the morning before the Fed announcement, with Nvidia rising by over $3 in share price.

Not many stock rose today, but among the very few which did was Nissan, which rose by 11% following merger talks with Honda.