Stock market today: S&P 500 rallies to its first gain since Christmas

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street snapped out of its holiday-season funk on Friday.

The S&P 500 rallied 1.3% for its first gain since Christmas and its best day in nearly two months. Strength for Big Tech stocks helped it break a five-day losing streak, its longest since April, and trim its loss for the week to 0.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 339 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite leaped 1.8%.

Nvidia was the strongest force lifting the market after dashing 4.5% higher. Other companies caught up in the craze around artificial-intelligence technology also rose, despite criticism that their stock prices have already vaulted too high. Super Micro Computer, which sells servers for AI and other uses, jumped 10.9%, and Palantir Technologies climbed 6.3%.

“While the easy gains in AI may be behind us, we think this rally looks far from over,” according to Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer, Americas, at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Another influential Big Tech stock, Tesla, jumped 8.2% to bounce back from its 6.1% tumble the day before, when it disclosed it delivered fewer electric vehicles in the last three months of 2024 than analysts expected.

Rival Rivian soared 24.5% after saying it delivered more than 14,000 vehicles during the latest quarter. That was more than analysts expected.

On the losing end of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which fell 6.5% after President Joe Biden blocked a nearly $15 billion deal proposed by Japan’s Nippon Steel to buy its Pittsburgh-based rival.

Beer, wine and liquor companies sank after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned about the direct link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk. He called for an update on the health warning label on alcoholic drinks, as well as for a reassessment of guidelines for alcohol consumption to account for cancer risk.

Molson Coors Beverage fell 3.4%. Brown-Forman, the distillery behind Jack Daniel’s, lost 2.5%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 73.92 points to 5,942.47. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 339.86 to 42,732.13, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 340.88 to 19,621.68.

Wall Street’s post-Christmas pullback dimmed its shine by only a bit following two stellar years for U.S. stock indexes. They’ve vaulted to records after the U.S. economy managed to keep growing despite high interest rates that have helped push inflation nearly all the way down to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

But even though the economy and job market still look solid at the moment, the path ahead is not assured. Part of the reason the S&P 500 set more than 50 all-time highs last year was because of the expectation that the Fed would keep cutting interest rates through 2025, after it began easing them in September.

Traders are now ratcheting back their expectations for coming cuts to rates. Inflation is proving to be stubborn as the Fed tries to wring out the last percentage point of improvement to get inflation down to 2%. Worries are also rising that tariffs and other policies coming from President-elect Donald Trump could put upward pressure on inflation. All the while, critics say U.S. stock prices simply look too expensive after rising so much faster than corporate profits.

The threat of Trump’s tariffs has also hurt stock markets overseas. For China, it’s compounded worries about the world’s second-largest economy, which is already contending with a struggling property market and other challenges.

Stocks dropped 1.6% in Shanghai to bring their loss for the week to 5.6%, though they climbed 0.7% in Hong Kong to trim their weekly loss to 1.6%. European stock indexes also fell.

South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 1.8% after the acting president and finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, promised to do more to stabilize the economy. The country is in the midst of a political crisis that has seen two heads of state impeached in under a month.

In the bond market, Treasury yields climbed after a report on U.S. manufacturing came in better than feared.

The report from the Institute for Supply Management showed another month of contraction for manufacturers, the 25th in the last 26. But it wasn’t as severe as economists expected. Manufacturing has been one of the areas of the economy hit hardest by the high interest rates of recent years.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.59% from 4.56% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, also rose, up to 4.28% from 4.25% late Thursday.

A trader works amid Christmas decorations on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is shown in New York's Financial District on Dec. 31, 2024. American flags flew at half-staff there following the death of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Dec. 27, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Road conditions were deteriorating Saturday in the central U.S. as a winter storm brought a mix of snow, ice and plunging temperatures, with forecasts calling for the dreaded combo to spread eastward in the coming days.

“Winter returned,” declared Bob Oravec, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually stays penned up around the North Pole, spinning like a top. But sometimes it escapes or stretches down to the U.S., Europe or Asia — and that’s when large numbers of people experience intense doses of cold. Studies show a fast-warming Arctic gets some of the blame for the increase in polar vortex stretching or wandering.

By Saturday evening, widespread heavy snow was likely between central Kansas and Indiana, especially along and north of Interstate 70, where there's a high chance of at least 8 inches of snow (20 centimeters). Part of the interstate was closed in central Kansas by Saturday afternoon.

The storm will then move into the Ohio Valley, where severe travel disruptions are expected. It will reach the Mid-Atlantic states on Sunday into Monday. A hard freeze is even expected as far south as Florida.

Severe thunderstorms, with the possibility of tornadoes and hail, also are possible ahead of the storm system’s cold front as it crosses the Lower Mississippi Valley, the National Weather Service warned.

A fire truck, several tractor-trailers and passenger vehicles overturned west of Salina, Kansas. Rigs also jackknifed and went into ditches, said Trooper Ben Gardner of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

He posted a video showing his boots sliding across the highway blacktop like an ice-skating rink.

“We are in it now," Gardner said as he drove to the scene of an accident. “The game has started.”

Freezing rain in Wichita, Kansas, sent authorities to multiple crashes Saturday morning. Police urged drivers to stay home if possible and watch out for emergency vehicles.

A state of emergency was declared in neighboring Missouri by Gov. Mike Parson. Whiteout conditions may make driving dangerous to impossible, forecasters warned, and heighten the risk of becoming stranded.

Stores in Wichita were filled with shoppers stocking up on groceries in advance of the storm, and warming centers opened in churches and libraries.

Several businesses closed across the Kansas City area, and the school district in suburban Independence, Missouri, announced it might need to cancel classes for one or more days.

“Get where you’re going now & stay put. If you must travel, consider packing a bag & staying where you’re headed," the Missouri Department of Transportation urged in a message on X.

The agency warned Friday that a shortage of workers could hamper the ability to clear roads.

In Ohio, crews in Columbus already treated major roadways with anti-icing liquids.

Starting Monday, hundreds of millions of people in the eastern two-thirds of the country will experience dangerous, bone-chilling air and wind chills, forecasters said. Temperatures could be 12 to 25 degrees colder than normal (7 to 14 degrees Celsius) as the polar vortex stretches down from the high Arctic.

In Chicago on Saturday, temperatures hovered in the teens (minus 7-10 Celsius) and around zero in Minneapolis (minus 18 C), while dropping to 14 below (minus 25 C) in International Falls, Minnesota, on the Canadian border.

While those cold temperatures aren't setting any records, they're causing problems nonetheless.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency Friday evening ahead of the storm, noting it could impact Virginia residents’ ability to vote in the state’s special elections on Tuesday. In a statement on X, the governor encouraged residents to vote early on Saturday in special elections before winter weather arrives.

In Maryland’s historic state capital near the Chesapeake Bay, local officials asked residents to remove vehicles from emergency snow routes in the city of Annapolis and announced plans to open several garages Sunday for complimentary parking.

The National Weather Service is forecasting 8 to 12 inches (about 20 to 30 centimeters) of snow for the Annapolis area, with temperatures remaining below freezing throughout the weekend.

In Baltimore, an extreme weather alert was issued alerting agencies to provide shelter and assistance for those in need. City officials said wind chills were expected to dip to 13 degrees overnight Saturday and remain in the teens through Tuesday.

In Louisiana, crews on land and water were racing to find a manatee that was spotted in Lake Pontchartrain before the cold temperatures hit. The manatee was first seen New Year’s Eve in the Mandeville area.

While manatees are common in the area during the summer months, winter sightings are a concern since the animals can begin to experience cold stress symptoms when the temperature gets below 68 degrees (20 Celsius).

“We are doing everything we can to get our hands on this animal,” said Gabriella Harlamert, stranding and rehab coordinator for Audubon Aquarium Rescue in New Orleans.

Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment

Hollingsworth is reporting from Mission, Kansas, and Witte in Annapolis, Maryland. Andrew DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas.

FILE - A leaf is frozen in the ice of a garden pond during cold weather in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - Steve Beckett with the street department in Owensboro, Ky., sprays a salt brine solution along Hickman Avenue in preparation for predicted snow and ice over the weekend, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, in Owensboro, Ky. (Greg Eans/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP, File)