US stocks: Dow closes higher on first day of 2026, still no Santa Claus rally

[NEW YORK] The Dow and S&P 500 indices ended higher on Friday (Jan 2), starting 2026 by snapping a four-day losing streak, helped by gains in chipmakers Nvidia, Intel and Boeing

In 2025, the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all notched double-digit gains, their third straight year in the green, a run last seen during 2019 to 2021.

Chip stocks provided a boost on Friday, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index up 4 per cent. Industrials and utilities also gained. Caterpillar and Boeing rose 4.5 per cent and 4.9 per cent, boosting the Dow.

While chip stocks rallied, several market heavyweights such as Apple and Microsoft fell to keep gains in check on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also pressured by losses in consumer discretionary stocks including Amazon. Tesla also slid 2.6 per cent after annual sales fell for a second year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 319.1 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 48,382.39, the S&P 500 gained 12.97 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6,858.47 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 6.36 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 23,235.63.

Joe Mazzola, head of trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab, told Reuters the market is seeing a “buy the dip, sell the rip”, trading mentality – where investors profit from short-term market volatility by timing entry and exit points.

“But I do think that investors might be a little bit more conscious about some of the valuations that they’re paying for some of the AI plays,” he said.

“At the same time when they do get the opportunity to buy in (during) a pull back, they just continue to do that. I don’t see that stopping anytime so.”

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Smaller stocks, which have struggled in recent days, also rallied and the Russell 2000 rose 1.1 per cent to snap a four-day streak of declines.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.01-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 236 new highs and 95 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 2,978 stocks rose and 1,818 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.64-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted nine new 52-week highs and nine new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 54 new highs and 79 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 15.92 billion shares, compared with the 15.87 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. REUTERS