After a brilliant start to the month of December, which followed the same dynamic as that experienced in the final stretch of November, Wall Street experienced a slowdown in Dow Jones, Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500, after having reached record highs in recent weeks. The biggest drop was experienced by Dow Jones with 0.23%, due to falls in the shares of UnitedHealth (UNH) and Salesforce (CRM), although without being alarming symptoms for the major assets of the US stock market. For its part, the Nasdaq 100 is also experiencing a brake on its tremendous rise, experiencing a small drop of 0.11% from its highs obtained, mainly motivated by a decline in employment that was expected for the Christmas season, which could have a boost over the coming weeks to cause the asset to rise again, ending 2024 on unbeatable results. Lastly, the slightest fall was seen in the S&P 500 with a decline of only 0.07%, which represents marginal losses with respect to the historical highs reached in previous days. Thus, with the movement expected for the Christmas campaign, the brake that Wall Street has suffered could be reversed in the final stretch, so that these slight falls experienced could be only a bump that is easy to overcome due to the opportunities that open up at such an important time for the market.
What is the short-term outlook for the Nasdaq?
Despite this small setback suffered by Wall Street, the outlook for the Nasdaq 100 and the rest of the US stock market assets is really promising. Large companies are showing great potential in recent months and their future looks set to be overwhelming, as is the case of NVIDIA, whose constant advances in computer chips are positioning the company in a privileged position, as one of those belonging to the Nasdaq 100 with the greatest projection, both in the short and long term. Of course, we should also not forget some of the great winning horses of the aforementioned index, such as Netflix, Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, Meta, Alibaba or Apple, which also contribute steadily to the growth that the Nasdaq 100 is experiencing during the last few days. The great momentum of these large technology companies has helped to bring in the beginning of December the best results in the history of the index that brings together the hundred best technology companies in the North American panorama, so what will happen in the immediate future will depend on their performance.
What is the Nasdaq 100 and how can you invest in it?
The Nasdaq 100 is a U.S. stock market index of the 100 largest industrial companies including hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale and biotechnology companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Unlike other indices such as the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100 does not include financial stocks, which distances it from other major US stock market assets. The Nasdaq Stock Market was founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and introduced the world’s first computerized trading system, which allowed fast and transparent operations, although it was not until 1985 that the Nasdaq 100 as it is known today appeared. Its evolution has been such that it has recently reached the highest values since its creation, which gives an idea of the excellent moment in which it finds itself despite having almost 40 years of history, young figures in terms of stock markets. Because of this meteoric rise, the Nasdaq 100 is attracting the attention of an increasing number of investors, who are approaching the American index by acquiring shares in its hundred or so companies or by investing in ETFs (exchange-traded funds), which allow them to have a large stake in the Nasdaq 100 indirectly, something that also helps to reduce risk at the cost of a small drop in profits in relation to shares. The situation of the Nasdaq 100 in particular and Wall Street in general suggests that the US stock market has not said its last word in 2024 and that the last weeks of December may prove to be key in determining where the major indexes and their assets stand before bidding farewell to a year that has seen a great recovery in the stock markets, something that experts are confident will continue in 2025, which looks promising in various sectors.
