The year of milestones, 2024, has seen an unperturbed rise in the current bull market, which is nearly 26 months old. It is higher by more than 70% from the mid-October 2022 lows. As we wrap up the year with the possibility of a ‘Santa Rally,’ let’s recap 2024’s landmark junctures.
Major U.S. Benchmarks Scale Fresh Records
The S&P 500 Index has made 57 new all-time highs this year, hitting the last one on Dec. 6, 2024. Also, “2024 would go down as the best election year return ever,” said Ryan Detrick, the chief market strategist at Carson Research in a note.
“Going back 50 years, we found five other bull markets that had lasted at least this long and the shortest any of them lasted was five total years. Think of it like a cruise ship — once it gets moving, it can be quite hard to stop,” added Detrick
While the S&P 500 index was up 25.96% on a year-to-date basis as of Dec. 23 close, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose by 25.82% in the same period.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index, on the other hand, hit a record eight 1,000-point milestones this year. It started the year around the 37,000 level and breached the 45,000 level at the beginning of December. It took only seven trading days for the index to go from 44,000 to 45,000, the second fastest 1,000-point milestone ever. Following that the index also saw one of its longest 10-day losing streak, the first ever since 1974.
Dow was up 13.77% year-to-date as of the Dec. 23 close, whereas the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) gained 13.74% in the same period.
The smallcap index Russell 2000 was up 11.16% over the year, while iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) was up 10.97% in the same period as of the Dec. 23 close.
See Also: Is The 26-Month Bull Market Over? Here Is What Carson Research’s 50-Year Old Study Tells Us
U.S. Market Trumps The World
Among the developed economies, the S&P 500 remains the best index with a 25.96% gain on a year-to-date basis, outperforming all the other developed market indices.
While the first year of a new president’s term has usually been strong since 1897, the returns during year one of a second term haven’t been very good overall, said Detrick.
Communication, Consumer Discretionary, And Technology Lead Gains In 2024
Tracking the exchange-traded funds that track the major sectors in the U.S. market, communication services emerged as the top sector for the year, followed by consumer discretionary and technology. The information technology sector has the highest weight of 31.3% in the S&P 500, followed by financials a t13.9%.
BlackRock said that they see technology companies’ earnings performing well in 2025. “We are overweight as the AI theme and earnings growth broaden. Valuations for AI beneficiaries are supported by tech companies delivering on earnings.”
Among the defensive sectors, utilities emerged as a winner, whereas energy was an underperformer. Consumer staples, energy, and utilities take up 5.7%, 3.4%, and 2.5% weight, respectively in the S&P 500 index.
Top S&P 500 Performers In 2024
Palantir was the top performer within the S&P 500 index this year, as it zoomed 386.67% year-to-date, as of Dec. 23 close. Vistra and Nvidia followed Palantir to advance 269.82% and 189.95% in the same period.
U.S. Dollar Surges Over 6% In 2024
The Dollar index was up 6.72% year-to-date with a 52-week range of 100.1570 to 108.5410 per unit. If the Greenback can hold on to these gains, the currency would leave behind the second-best year since 2015.
The UDS’s demand has been rising due to the “Uncertainties arising from expected Trump's policies and hawkish comments from the Fed towards rate cycle,” said Kunal Sodhani, vice president of the global trading center at Shinhan Bank.
According to Franklin Templeton, “The Fed easing cycle will be a dominant factor for the USD. The two main comparisons we draw against the Fed cyclically, interest-rate-wise, are emerging markets, and Japan.”
WisdomTree Bloomberg US Dollar Bullish Fund (NYSE:USDU) was up 13.24% on a year-to-date basis, as of Dec. 23 close, where as Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSE:UUP) advanced by 7.21% in the same period.
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