The absence of Santa Claus is not necessarily bad news

This report is from today’s edition of CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open introduces investors to everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Do you like what you see? You can subscribe here.

A tough week of trading
US stocks rose on friday but still ended the week lower. The S&P 500 energy sector bucked the trend and rose more than 3% for the week. of Europe Stoxx 600 index down 0.49%. Auto stocks were among the worst performers, with Stellar shares lost about 2% after the company reported a 45.7% cut in 2024 production.

Boeing’s year of recovery
Boeing hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2018, when the first of two fatalities crashes of its 737 Maxes killed 346 people. A year ago unused emergency exit door blew into the air from a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines. New CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over in August, is tasked with ensuring Boeing can increase production and maintain quality. There it is how is he doing.

Sales of foreign phones in China are collapsing
Sales of foreign phone brands in China reached 3.04 million units in November, according to CNBC estimates based on data from the Chinese Academy of Information and Communications Technology. This represents a 47.4% decline from November 2023, suggesting brands such as An apple have been struggling in the Chinese market.

Microsoft is investing heavily in data centers
Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion in fiscal year 2025 to build data centers that can handle AI workloads, the company said on Friday blog post. More than half of the expected spending on AI infrastructure will be in the US, writes Microsoft vice president and president Brad Smith. Microsoft’s 2025 fiscal year ends in June.

(PRO) A look at the December jobs report
Big chunks of economic data this week it’s the minutes for the US Federal Reserve’s December meeting, out on Wednesday, and the December jobs report, out on Friday. While neither is likely to change the Fed’s rate decision at its January meeting, they could provide more clarity on the central bank’s actions in 2025.

on friday, S&P 500 added 1.26%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8% and Nasdaq Composite advanced by 1.77%. Still, losses from previous trading sessions — before Friday the S&P and Nasdaq were on a five-day losing streak — were too much to bear. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.48%, the Dow lost 0.60% and the Nasdaq declined 0.51%.

This means that called The Santa Claus rally, a phenomenon in which stocks rise during the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the next, has not hit the markets this year.

Not having Santa visit this year could mean a tougher times ahead for stocks As the late Yale Hirsch, founder of the Stock Trader’s Almanac in 1968, said“If Santa fails to call, the bears may come to Broad and Wall.”

That said, putting too much faith in such signals can be the adult equivalent of believing that Santa really is putting a PlayStation under the tree because we were nice kids.

And just as we grew up and realized that money is what gives us gifts, we must remember that the stock market is a bet on how much money companies can bring.

On this front, UBSDavid 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, mainly driven by healthy earnings growth of 9%,” Lefkowitz wrote in a recent note. Its price target suggests about 11% upside from Friday’s close.

Now, that is such a precious gift that no man, real or imagined, could give.

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