Wall Street broke the record again – The Santa Claus rally begins

Stronger-than-expected economic growth figures in the United States pushed stocks to yet another record high on Wall Street.

The broad S&P 500 index rose 0.5 percent to 6,909.79 points on Tuesday.

The annual growth rate of the US national economy was 4.3 percent in the third quarter of the year. Analysts had previously estimated the growth rate to be 3.3 percent.

The growth relied heavily on the growth of private consumption, which would indicate that the weakening of the labor market situation has not, at least for the time being, reduced households’ desire to spend.

“The economy is now growing at its fastest rate in two years, which strengthens the belief that corporate results can continue to grow strongly in 2026 as well”, Interactive Brokersin senior economist Jose Torres assesses the news agency Bloomberg.

President of the United States Donald Trump said he expects his appointee, the Fed chief, to cut interest rates if markets do well. Trump is expected to name a new director general in the coming weeks.

“I want the new Fed chairman to lower interest rates when markets are going well, not crash them for no reason,” Trump wrote on Tuesday on social media.

“No one who disagrees with me will ever be the chairman of the Fed.”

The current CEO Jerome Powell the season ends next year.

Now it begins

Wall Street is open for half a day on Christmas Eve, i.e. from 16:30 to 21:00 Finnish time. The Helsinki Stock Exchange is closed on the eve.

The long-awaited Santa Claus rally also officially starts on Wednesday. The term refers to a regularly seen phenomenon in the stock market, where stock prices rise between Christmas and the first trading days of the new year.

LPL Financialin Adam Turnquist according to the S&P 500 Index has returned an average of 1.3 percent during that period since 1950.

On the other hand, the arrival of Santa Claus is not certain this year, OP Pohjolan rescuer Lippo Suominen evaluates Kauppalehti earlier last week.

“In general, I’m used to talking about December as a Santa Claus rally, but we’ll see. However, we have a strong autumn behind us, which in a way may now limit Santa’s departure,” says Suominen.

The Helsinki Stock Exchange is closed on December 24-26. because of the Christmas holidays. The US stock market is also closed for Christmas and Boxing Day.