The December Rally Has Yet to Materialize. Time Is Running Out for Santa Claus.

Wall Street appeared to have all the pieces in place for its traditional advance in December heading into the final trading days of the year, powered in part by a Federal Reserve rate cut, slumping global energy prices, steady performance for the market’s biggest tech stocks, and data suggesting a resilient domestic economy. With just eight full trading days between now and the end of the year, both the and the tech-focused are in negative territory for the month, and showing little signs of a breakout that would deliver a so-called Santa Claus rally for U.S. stocks. “December is indeed historically one of the stronger months of the year, with gains more than 73% of the time,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, who noted that most of the benchmark’s 1.4% average December gains since 1950 were booked over the second half of the month.