Stock market today: Wall Street points to losses in the final days of 2024

Wall Street retreated in light premarket trading Monday as the year draws to a close lacking the euphoria that pushed markets to record highs in 2024.

Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.4% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.2% to 2,399.49 and shares of Jeju Air Co., a low-cost South Korean airline, lost 8.7% after one of the company’s Boeing 737-800s skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete wall and burst into flames Sunday, killing 179 of the 181 people aboard. Authorities were investigating why the aircraft’s landing gear failed to deploy.

The disaster was yet another blow for Boeing following a machinists strike, further safety problems with its troubled top-selling aircraft and a plunging stock price. Its shares fell 3% in premarket trading and have declined more than 30% this year.

Despite some post-Christmas sluggishness, U.S. financial markets are moving closer to another standout annual finish. The S&P 500 is on track for a gain of around 25% in 2024. That would mark a second consecutive yearly gain of more than 20%, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998.

The gains have been driven partly by upbeat economic data showing that consumers continued spending and the labor market remained strong. Inflation, while still high, has also been steadily easing.

The stream of upbeat economic data and easing inflation helped prompt a reversal in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy this year. Expectations for interest rate cuts also helped drive market gains. The central bank recently delivered its third cut to interest rates in 2024.

In Asia, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended 1% lower, at 39,894.54. The last trading session of the year ended on a somber note with the Japan Exchange Group’s CEO Hiromi Yamaji apologizing during the traditional yearend ceremony over a recent insider trading case.

“I acknowledge trust towards the market is essential for investors to trade with confidence,” Yamaji said. The exchange is working to improve training and verify findings of an independent investigation, he said, adding that “we are doing are our utmost best to rebuild trust and prevent this from happening again.”

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX inched back 0.1%, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2% Britain’s FTSE 100 was unchanged.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.2% at 20,041.42 while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.2% to 3,407.33. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.3% to 8,235.00.

U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 28 cents to $70.88 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 20 cents to $73.99 per barrel.

The dollar was trading at 157.55 yen, while the euro rose to $1.0445.