A television station broadcasts Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, US, on Wednesday, December 18, 2024.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open gives investors access to everything they need to know, wherever they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Mega car merger
Nissan and Honda has begun official merger talksboth companies announced Monday. The combined group has the potential to deliver revenue of 30 trillion yen ($191.4 billion) and an operating profit of more than 3 trillion yen, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said. Shares of Honda rose 12.7% after Mibe's press conference.
Taiwan is leading the Asian markets
As of December 23, Taiex Taiwan had gained 28.85%, making it the the best performing stock market in Asia-Pacific in 2024. Taiex's focus on tech and tech-related stocks helped boost its performance. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company up 82.12% in 2024, and Foxconn – which trades as Reverend Hai Precision Industry -77.51% positive.
A great start to the holidays
US markets rose on Monday behind a strong showing by large technical stocks. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday for Christmas Eve. Europe Stoxx 600 index added 0.14%. Shares of Volkswagen lost 2% when the automaker reached level a business with workers on strike on Friday, which involves cutting 35,000 jobs by 2030.
UK GDP is not ok
The The UK economy failed to expand in the three months to September, according to revised figures from the Office for National Statistics, published on Monday. Previous estimates had pegged third-quarter gross domestic product at 0.1%. Earlier this month, data from the ONS showed that the UK economy had been underperforming contracted by 0.1% in October.
(PRO) A stock with room for growth in 2025
The S&P 500 has enjoyed two consecutive years of gains of over 20%. And there are still stocks with plenty of room to grow in 2025. CNBC used Pro his stock monitor tool and find companies that have at least 30% upside potential in 2025based on consensus Wall Street price targets.
The bottom line
US markets started the trading week in a holiday mood. The S&P 500 changed so far +0.73% compared to yesterday Dow Jones industrial averagerecovering from earlier losses, ticked up 0.16%. The Nasdaq Composite it added 0.98% on the back of strong performances from major tech companies such as Nvidia, Tesla and Meta Platforms.
However, shares of bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy The Nasdaq-100 index fell 8.8% on the first day, after the price of digital currency fell below $93,000 on Monday.
That said, MicroStrategy remains among the top US tech companies valued at $5 billion or more, according to FactSet data. Its shares are up 426% so far this year, mostly thanks to the company stock of bitcoinswhich he started collecting in 2020.
With the rally in bitcoin after Donald Trump's election victory, MicroStrategy's bitcoin holdings are now worth around $42 billion. It's the basis for the company's market capitalization ballooning to $82 billion from about $1.1 billion since it started buying bitcoin in bulk.
Investors looking to ride MicroStrategy's explosive growth should remember that the company's share price is currently trading behind bitcoin prices.
The flip side of it is that if bitcoin prices crash for any reason – as volatile as cryptocurrency – MicroStrategy shares can also fall.
Trading is likely to be thin this week. Markets in the US will close early on Tuesday and rest on Wednesday for Christmas Day.
But light trading does not mean small movements in markets. “With the main market boom still intact, we are not ruling out the possibility that Santa Claus will be coming to Broad & Wall this year,” said Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler, in a note.
As investors celebrate the holidays – and the S&P's 25.25% pop for the year – they may find an extra gift under the tree.
— CNBC's Yun Li, MacKenzie Sigalos and Ari Levy contributed to this report.
CNBC Daily Open will be on hiatus and will return next year. Happy Holidays!
Clarity: This article has been updated to reflect the correct number of trading weeks in a year.
