STORY: U.S. stocks finished lower on the first trading day of the year after opening the session higher.
Investors started 2025 dealing with the cross-currents of solid labor market data, a rising dollar and tumbling Tesla shares.
The Dow slipped a third of one percent while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell a little less than that.
Shares of Tesla lost 6% after the company reported its first annual drop in deliveries, as incentives failed to stem a decline in demand for its aging line-up of electric vehicles.
While a report from the Labor Department showed initial and continuing claims for unemployment benefits both fell last week.
That supports the narrative of a solid jobs market and adds weight to the possibility that the Federal Reserve could let its key interest rate stand at this month's policy meeting.
Baird Investment Strategist Ross Mayfield says he expects to see some volatility in stocks but thinks it's full speed ahead.
"I think we're still in a bull market here. I would say that any pullback based on something like the 10-year or something like the dollar strengthening is buyable. A pullback is buyable because the fundamentals of the economy are solid. The consumer keeps spending, third quarter GDP was strong. Fourth quarter GDP is tracking strong. Initial jobless claims, you know, have been forgotten, but they came in this morning extremely low. So you have a solid labor market, a strong consumer. You also have corporate profits expected to rise double-digit percentage points, and not just the magnificent 7, but the other 493 as well."
Others stocks on the move included Apple, which dropped about 2.5 % after the iPhone maker offered rare discounts in China in order to compete against domestic rivals.
And SoFi Technologies plunged 8% after broker KBW downgraded its stock on valuation concerns.