Wall Street Dips on Year-End Profit Taking as Tech and Gold Stocks Weigh

U.S. stocks edged lower amid subdued holiday trading, with tech and gold shares under pressure despite strong recent gains while upbeat housing data and mixed global markets offered some balance.

The Dow fell 249.04 points (0.5%) to 48,461.93. the Nasdaq slid 118.75 points (0.5%) to 23,474.35 and the S&P 500 declined 24.20 points (0.4%) to 6,905.74.

Wall Streets pullback looked like classic year-end profit taking after a strong run. The Dow and S&P 500 hit record closes midweek on tech strength before edging lower, while all major averages still logged solid Christmas-week gains. Big-name tech like Nvidia and Oracle slid, and trading was quieter as many desks emptied ahead of New Years.

 

On the data front, U.S. housing delivered a surprise boost. Pending home sales jumped 3.3% in November to 79.2, far above expectations and following an upwardly revised October gain. Economists had penciled in just a modest increaseso this one turned heads.

Gold stocks saw substantial weakness amid a sharp pullback by the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index plunging by 5.7% after ending last Friday's trading at a record closing high. Significant weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.6% loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Computer hardware, steel and banking stocks also saw notable weakness, while oil producer stocks moved to the upside amid a spike by the price of crude oil.

Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index crept slightly higher and South Korea's Kospi surged by 2.2%. The major European markets also ended the day narrowly mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both inched up by 0.1%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved to the upside after ending last Friday's trading roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, fell 2 bps to 4.11%.

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