Wall Street’s strong finish cheered markets tired of the holiday

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, international markets bulletin. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. As you see? You can subscribe here.

Mega car combination
Nissan and Honda has started formal merger discussionsthe two companies announced Monday. The negotiations will end in June 2025. Listed in Japan Honda shares rose 13.4% on Tuesday and continue to do so Best days since October 2008after the company announced plans to buy back 24% of its outstanding shares by December 23 next year.

Taiwan is the leader in Asian markets
As of December 23, Taiwan’s Taiex stock exchange gained 28.85%. The best performing stock market in the Asia-Pacific region In 2024. Taiex’s focus on technology and technological resources has helped boost its performance. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company 2024 rose 82.12% and Foxconn trades as Hon Hai Precision Industry – 77.51% advanced.

A positive start to the holidays
US markets It went up on Monday on the back of a strong showing by major tech stocks. The New York Stock Exchange closes early on Tuesday for Christmas Eve. Asia-Pacific stocks Tuesday traded mixed. of Japan Nikkei 225 Honda shares were down about 0.4% despite gains. Meanwhile, Hong Kong Hang Seng index increased by more than 1%.

UK GDP is not good
The The British economy could not expand In the three months ending in September, according to revised figures from the Office for National Statistics published on Monday. Previous estimates pegged third-quarter gross domestic product at 0.1%. Earlier this month, data from the ONS showed that the UK economy was unexpectedly weak It decreased by 0.1% in October.

(PRO) Buffett’s biggest war chest
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is currently It has $325 billion in cash — the absolute largest amount collected. Cash now makes up about 30% of Berkshire’s total assets, the highest ratio in 34 years, according to Oppenheimer data. Buffett has sold large amounts of Apple and Bank of America shares this year. Why does the 94-year-old legendary investor keep so much money? Analysts think.

US markets started the trading week with holiday cheer. The S&P 500 It gained 0.73% value Dow Jones Industrial Averagerose 0.16%, recovering earlier losses. The Nasdaq Composite It added 0.98% on the back of strong performances from major technology firms such as Nvidia, Tesla and Meta platforms.

However, bitcoin proxy shares MicroStrategy The Nasdaq-100 index fell 8.8% on the first day after the cryptocurrency fell below $93,000 on Monday.

MicroStrategy is still among the best-performing U.S. technology companies valued at $5 billion or more, according to FactSet data. Its shares are up 426% so far this year, largely thanks to the company bitcoin reserveIt started collecting in 2020.

With bitcoin rallying after Donald Trump’s election victory, MicroStrategy’s bitcoin holdings are now worth about $42 billion. That’s the reason the company’s market capitalization has grown from about $1.1 billion to $82 billion since it began buying bitcoins in bulk.

Investors looking to ride MicroStrategy’s explosive rise should remember that the company’s stock price is currently trading at bitcoin prices.

The flip side is that if bitcoin prices crater for any reason — as volatile as cryptocurrency can be — MicroStrategy stock could stumble, too.

Trading will be weak this week. Markets in the US will close early Tuesday morning and take a break on Wednesday for Christmas Day.

But light trading does not mean small movements in the markets. “With the underlying bullish market trends still intact, we’re not discounting the potential for Santa Claus to come to Broad & Wall this year,” Piper Sandler chief market technician Craig Johnson said in a note.

As investors celebrate the holidays — and the S&P’s 25.25% annual pop — they may find an extra gift under the tree.

— CNBC’s Yun Li, MacKenzie Sigalos and Ari Levy contributed to this report.

The CNBC Daily Open will be on hiatus and will return next year. Happy holiday!