The Dow Jones Industrial Average was threatening to enter the history books on Tuesday with its first 9-day losing streak since the 1970s in sight.
The 30-stock average shed 215 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 lost 0.5% along with the Nasdaq Composite.
The Dow’s losing streak began the day after it closed above 45,000 for the first time ever earlier in the month.
The Dow anomaly comes at a time when the broader market is doing well. The S&P 500 hit a new high on Dec. 6 and sits less than 1% from that level. The Nasdaq hit a record on Monday.
Driving the Dow’s losses has been a rotation into technology stocks and out of some of the more old economy stocks that gained in November following the reelection of Donald Trump. Those stocks dominate the Dow, rather than tech.
What’s strange however is that Nvidia, a new tech member of the Dow that joined last month, has also struggled despite the tech sector’s recent gains, slipping into correction territory Monday. Nvidia was lower again,
Meanwhile Broadcom
has been surging to new highs, with investors finding a new chip stock to love. And Alphabet
, Apple
and Tesla
also hit new records on Monday. Tesla was higher Tuesday, though Broadcom shed 3.6%.
Some of the concern driving some profit-taking in the non-technology stocks centers around the upcoming Federal Reserve interest-rate decision on Wednesday. Traders are pricing in a 97% chance of a quarter-point cut, according to CME Group’s Fed Watch tool, however there’s concern among investors and economists that the central bank could be making a mistake and risking a stock market bubble or sparking more inflation.
“While we expect the Federal Reserve to proceed with its telegraphed 25 basis point rate cut on Wednesday, as recent data was not inflationary enough to change course for December, we expect the Fed’s 2025 dot plot and guidance to be much more hawkish, suggesting a moderation in the pace of rate cuts for 2025,” said Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at SWBC.
