S&P 500, Nasdaq end flat in holiday-thin trade, Meta gains on deal

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed little changed in choppy trading on Tuesday, as gains in communication services stocks were offset by declines in technology and financial stocks, with financials also weighing on the Dow.

Communication services shares were among the biggest gainers on the S&P 500, fueled by a rise in Meta Platforms. The technology company said it would acquire Chinese-founded artificial intelligence startup Manus, accelerating efforts to integrate advanced AI across its platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

Information technology stocks were range-bound with Apple and Nvidia subdued, while Microsoft inched up.

On Monday, these heavyweight stocks snapped a six-session winning streak, their longest since September. Last week, the rally had also propelled the S&P 500 to a record high.

“The growth rates are going to converge between technology and everything else next year and the valuation gap is so wide, it absolutely is justified to see repositioning,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide.

“It’s just a healthy rebalancing of allocations more so than an emotionally driven sell-off (in tech).”

Trading volumes remained thin in the holiday-truncated week, which analysts expect could heighten market volatility.

Losses in Goldman Sachs and American Express weighed on the Dow.

Citigroup fell a day after it announced its board approved the sale of its Russian unit, AO Citibank, to Renaissance Capital. The deal will lead to a pre-tax loss of about $1.2 billion, largely related to currency translation.

“We believe investors will look past it as a non-core item and focus more on the idea that resolution of another legacy issue is getting closer to the finish line – a positive for (Citi’s) ongoing transformation,” said R. Scott Siefers, analyst at Piper Sandler in a note.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 9.48 points, or 0.14%, to end at 6,896.26 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 55.27 points, or 0.23%, to 23,419.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 94.87 points, or 0.20%, to 48,367.06.

The S&P 500 and the Dow are set for their eighth consecutive month of gains, their longest monthly winning streak since 2017. Some investors eye a “Santa Claus rally”, in which the S&P 500 typically posts gains over the last five trading days of the year and the first two of January, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

The U.S. Federal Reserve agreed to cut interest rates at its December meeting only after a deeply nuanced debate about the risks facing the U.S. economy, according to minutes of the latest two-day session.

The Fed next meets on January 27-28, with investors currently expecting the central bank to leave its benchmark rate unchanged.

The S&P 500 has added about 17% so far this year, as the frenzy to capitalize on artificial intelligence helped the U.S. benchmark edge ahead of Europe’s STOXX 600, despite investors diversifying away from U.S. stocks earlier in the year dominated by trade disputes.

Russia said it would toughen its negotiating stance after accusing Kyiv of attacking a Russian presidential residence. The fading hopes of a peace deal supported oil prices, allowing S&P’s energy sub-index to rise and outperform peers.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru and Saeed Azhar; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and David Gregorio)