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Live Markets Update: Nasdaq (QQQ) Rising To Start 2025 - Tesla (TSLA) Falls

January 2 Market Update
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Live Updates

Live Coverage Has Ended

Markets See Abrupt Sell-Off

by Eric Bleeker

At 12:15 p.m. ET, markets turned sharply negative. The Nasdaq Composite was trading for 19,430 and suddenly turned south. As of 12:45 p.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite has dropped to 19,170.

There’s no clear catalyst for the move, but we’ll continue monitoring the situation.

Mortgage Demand Continues to Plummet

by Eric Bleeker

Home buying slows down around the holidays, but new numbers out today are especially bleak. Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows mortgage applications down 21.9% for the week of December 27.

The main headwind for the housing industry continues to be high borrowing costs. 30-year mortgages now average 6.97%.

The stock market is starting 2025 in the green. Indexes are up across the board, let’s take a look at how some of the most important indexes are performing as of 11:30 a.m. ET:

  • Nasdaq: Up 74.67 (+.39%)
  • S&P 500: Up 16.30 (+.30%)
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: Up 33.97 (+.08%)
  • Russell 2000: Up 14.86 (+.66%)

Popular indexes have seen an astonishing run across 2023 and 2024. For example, the Invesco QQQ Trust (Nasdaq: QQQ) is up more than 90% since the end of 2022.

However, it’s worth noting that the market has only seen a single run of three years where the S&P 500’s returns exceeded 20%. That was in the 1990s Dot Com Boom. With AI rising today, could 2025 become the second time we see a streak of three straight years the market rises more than 20%?

Let’s look at what’s moving the market today.

Tesla Drops 5% After Deliveries Fall from 2023

Between November 5th and December 24th, Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) shares surged 83%. Optimism that Musk’s connections to the Trump Administration could be a boon to the company helped fuel returns. However, Tesla’s stock price has been falling after Christmas.

Today, shares are down more than 5% after Tesla reported an annual decline in EV deliveries. In the fourth quarter, Tesla delivered 495,000 vehicles, which was below analyst expectations of 505,000 deliveries.

While Tesla’s deliveries fell in 2024, the company still likely grew its sales for the year. Tesla has yet to report its fourth-quarter earnings, but Wall Street expects 2024 revenue to grow 3% from 2023 totals. However, expectations for 2025 ramp up significantly. Wall Street currently projects Tesla to report $116 billion in sales this year, which would be a growth rate of about 17%.

AI Energy Stocks Seeing Big Gains

Stocks tied to AI energy generation are seeing big gains today. Vistra Energy (NYSE: VST) is up 8% after gaining more than 250% in 2024. Constellation Energy (Nasdaq: CEG) is up 6% after nearly doubling in 2024.

Enthusiasm is high for AI stocks in general today. NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) is up 2.9%. Other stocks of note include Coherent (Nasdaq: COHR) up 5.8%, Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) up 5%, and Credo Technology (Nasdaq: CRDO) up 4%.

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