The S&P 500 index witnessed big gains right from the start of 2024. In the first quarter of the year, it jumped up 10.20%. That’s around more than 10 times its average gain since 2000.
However, the momentum couldn’t be sustained as the S&P added 3.9% and 5.5% in the second and third quarter of 2024. In any other year, investors might not have been disappointed with those figures. But the index’s first-quarter performance set expectations so high that subsequent quarters seemed to pale in comparison.
In the final quarter of 2024, the S&P limped to a gain of just 1.9%. Making things worse, we did not get a 2024 Santa rally.
Of course, a gain is a good. But it’s hard not to e just a little disappointed when looking back at the highs we enjoyed in early 2024.
That said, a relatively weak end to the year wasn’t enough to dent the gains of the S&P 500 in the early part of 2024, where the index surged 23.30%. The index recorded no fewer than 57 record closes and this on the back of a 24.2% rise in 2023.
Big tech and Artificial intelligence stocks (the Magnificent Seven in particular) were behind much of 2024′s gains. Shares of Nvidia were up by around 171%, while Broadcom jumped 108%. To place this in context – the Magnificent 7’ stocks were responsible for more than half the S&P 500′s 2024 gain. It does beg the question – is the initial AI hype over for now or is there more to come? Has AI settled for the moment?
Uncertainties await the markets in 2025. Investors will have to contend with the incoming Trump administration’s policies, possibly higher-than-expected interest rates for the year, which in turn are keeping Treasury yields elevated, among other headwinds.
Trumps tariffs are on the way.
