Missing out on the Santa Rally isn't necessarily bad news

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, the international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open keeps investors informed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

Rocky week of trading
US stocks It rose on Friday However, it ended the week on a negative note. The S&P 500 energy sector bucked the trend, rising more than 3% during the week. Europe Stokes 600 index decreased by 0.49%. Car stocks were among the worst performers excellent Shares lost about 2% after the company reported a 45.7% decline in 2024 production.

A rebuilding year for Boeing
Boeing It hasn't posted annual profits since 2018, which saw its first two killers Her 737 MAX plane crashed Which killed 346 people. A year ago, an unused emergency exit door It exploded in midair From a nearly new Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. New CEO Kelly Ortberg, who started in the top job in August, is tasked with ensuring Boeing can increase production and maintain quality. here How is it getting.

Foreign phone sales in China decline
Sales of foreign phone brands in China reached 3.04 million units in November, according to CNBC calculations based on data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. This represents a decline of 47.4% since November 2023, indicating brands such as apple It's done Struggling in the Chinese market.

Microsoft is investing heavily in data centers
Microsoft Plan to Spending $80 billion in fiscal year 2025 The company will focus on building data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads, the company said on Friday Blog post. Microsoft vice president and president Brad Smith wrote that more than half of the expected spending on AI infrastructure will take place in the United States. Microsoft's fiscal year 2025 ends in June.

(PRO) Eyes on December jobs report
Large pieces of economic data This week are the US Federal Reserve's December meeting minutes, released on Wednesday, and the December jobs report, released on Friday. While neither is likely to change the Fed's interest rate decision at its January meeting, they could provide more clarity on the central bank's moves in 2025.

Friday, Standard & Poor's 500 He added 1.26% Dow Jones Industrial Average It rose 0.8% Nasdaq Composite Advance 1.77% However, losses from previous trading sessions — before Friday, the S&P and Nasdaq were on a five-day losing streak — were too heavy to bear. Over the course of the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.48%, the Dow lost 0.60%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.51%.

This means that the so-called Santa Claus Rally, a phenomenon in which stocks rise during the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the following days, did not fall on the markets this year.

The lack of Santa visits this year could indicate a It's a tougher time ahead for stocks As the late Yale Hirsch, founder, said Stock trader calendar In 1968, He said“If Santa Claus fails to call, bears may come to Broad and Wall.”

However, placing too much faith in such signals may be the adult equivalent of believing that it was really Santa who put the PlayStation under the tree because we were cool kids.

As we grow up and realize that money brings us gifts, we need to remember that the stock market is a bet on how much money companies can bring in.

On that front, UPSDavid Lefkowitz, the bank's chief investment officer for US equities, is optimistic. “We expect the bull market to continue with the S&P 500 reaching 6,600 by the end of the year, driven primarily by healthy earnings growth of 9%,” Lefkowitz wrote in a recent note. Its price target indicates an upside of approximately 11% from Friday's close.

Now, this is a gift so precious that no one, real or imaginary, can give it.

— CNBC's Fred Imbert, Pia Singh, Sean Conlon, Jesse Pound and Sarah Main contributed to this report.