US OPEN: Wall Street near record levels as year closes

• Wall Street indices launch trading little changed
• Major US indices finish year at or near record levels
• Russell 2000 still 15% below ATH despite late-year rally

Wall Street indices launched the final cash session of the year little changed. S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones all traded flat at session opening while small-cap Russell 2000 traded around 0.2-0.3% lower. S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones are about to finish the year at or near record levels. Russell 2000 is lagging behind and is trading around 15% below highs from late-2021.

Economic calendar for the final trading day of the year is empty. Chicago PMI for December was released at 2:45 pm GMT. Report was expected showed a drop from 55.8 in November to 51.0 now. However, actual report showed a much deeper drop - to 46.9. However, this report is known to be volatile and usually does not have a big impact on the markets. So was the case today.

Source: xStation5

Small-cap Russell 2000 can be seen as a laggard among major US indices as it still trades significantly below its all-time highs. Taking a look at Russell 2000 futures (US2000) chart at weekly interval, we can see that the index has gained over 25% off that late-October lows and has broken above the upper limit of a medium-term trading range. Nevertheless, index is still trading around 15% below its all-time highs from 2021. However, technical outlook remains bullish with textbook target of a breakout from trading range being 2,410 pts. Buyers would, however, need to break above the 2,135 pts resistance first.

Company News

UnitedHealth (UNH.US) announced that it has agreed to sell its Brazil operations to private investors and will record a $7 billion charge on the investment, mostly from foreign currency translations.

Fisker (FSR.US) gains after the company announced that it has produced 10,142 Fisker Ocean SUVs and delivered approximately 4,700 units in 2023. Company said that deliveries from Q3 2023 to Q4 2023 grew by over 300%.

Analysts' actions

• Lyft (LYFT.US) downgraded to 'reduce' at Nomura. Price target set at $13.00
• McCormick & Co (MKC.US) rated 'neutral' at Haitong. Price target set at $70.13

Lyft (LYFT.US) launched today's trading lower following a downgrade at Nomura. Stock is pulling back from the $16.00 resistance zone. The first level to watch should the declines deepen can be found in the $14.00 swing area. Source: xStation5