- Nasdaq ends 2023 with best performance in 20 years
- S&P 500 ends the year up 24%
- Goldman Sachs predicts 8% rise in S&P 500
US markets are expected to start 2024 on a positive note on 2 January after closing on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day only.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the year with one of its best performances in two decades – up 44% to sit at the 15,011 mark as of 29 December 2023, and the S&P 500 ended the year up 24% at 4,769.
Meanwhile the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) ended up 13% to 37,689 at the end of 2023.
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US bank Goldman Sachs sees the S&P 500 hitting 5,100 by the end of 2024, a rise of more than 8% largely attributable to its constituents – the ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks: Apple (AAPL:NASDAQ), Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ), Amazon (AMZN:NASDAQ), Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ), Alphabet (GOOG: NASDAQ), Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ), Meta Platforms (META:NASDAQ).
The seven technology giants collectively represent around 30% of the market value of the S&P 500.
With the US Federal Reserve intending to lower interest rates in 2024, US growth stocks stand to benefit from the US central bank's actions, given their higher interest rate sensitivity.
‘Depending on the speed of deceleration of the US economy, the Fed could start adjusting interest rates from the summer onwards, for a total of three rate cuts of 25 basis points by 2024,' said Mabrouk Chetouane, Natixis IM’s head of global market strategy in his outlook.
US earnings season is due to ’unofficially kick off’ on 12 January when US bank JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) reports.
