Mild decline amid quiet holiday mood… Nasdaq down 0.09%↓ [New York Market Briefing]

Major U.S. stock indices closed slightly lower in a quiet year-end atmosphere on Wall Street.

On the 26th (U.S. Eastern Time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 20.19 points (0.04%) at 48,710.97 compared with the previous session.

The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed down 2.11 points (0.03%) at 6,929.94, and the Nasdaq Composite closed down 20.21 points (0.09%) at 23,593.10.

The S&P 500 hit an intraday record high.

After rising for several days and effectively delivering a "Santa rally" in advance, there was also evidence of investors taking a breather. The three major indices had risen for five consecutive trading days through the previous session.

There were no major economic indicators or events to move the market. U.S. central bank (Fed) officials are also expected to resume public remarks only after the new year.

By sector, there were no sectors that moved more than 1%. Healthcare, materials, technology, and real estate were slightly firm.

Mega tech companies with market caps above $1 trillion were also mixed and around unchanged. Nvidia rose more than 1%, while Tesla fell more than 2%.

Oracle, controversial for massive debt financing, closed slightly higher. Oracle is heading toward its worst quarterly return since Q3 2022, when it recorded -34.39%, as lingering AI bubble concerns continue to keep the market cautious. Oracle's stock return for Q4 this year is around -30%.

Coupang rose 6.45% intraday. This is attributed to Coupang's announcement that its internal investigation into the personal data leak found only 3,000 accounts were leaked and there was no third-party leak.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose 0.13 points (0.97%) from the previous close to 13.60.

Cha Eun-ji, Hankyung.com reporter chachacha@hankyung.com