The Nasdaq and S&P 500 showed strength Friday, rescuing an otherwise dismal preholiday week. The Dow capped a 10-day slide on Wednesday, its longest daily decline since 1974. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 undercut important technical support on Wednesday, leading IBD to downgrade its Stock Market Exposure guide to the 60% to 80% range, down from 80% to 100%. The read at IBD's Leaderboard is "Uptrend Under Pressure."

Stocks To Watch: Investing In A Tricky Market

And so the stock market rally continues, despite the rough recent action. A number of stocks are in buy areas or setting up. Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) has pulled back to the top of a buy range after clearing a cup-with-handle buy point Dec. 10. ACV Auctions (ACVA), a digital auction site, has rebounded back above a buy point. Israel-based CyberArk Software (CYBR) is flashing a buy signal, topping its 21-day moving average after rebounding from its 50-day line. Doximity (DOCS), a cloud-based fintech for medical professionals, is also in a buy zone. Sea Limited (SE) rebounded bullishly from a key level, offering a potential entry, though investors could await more strength.

Economic Calendar: Data Takes A Holiday

The economic calendar over the next two holiday-interrupted weeks will be unusually light. New home sales, on Tuesday, are expected to bounce back from a hurricane-hit October, but pretty weakly, to a 665,000 annual pace, the FactSet consensus says. More housing data is due the following week, with pending home sales out on Monday, Dec. 30. Construction spending for November will be reported at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 2. The next potentially high-impact report will be the Institute of Supply Management manufacturing survey index, out at on Friday, Jan. 3. The monthly employment report, though usually out the first Friday of the month, won't come out until Jan. 10.

Key Fed Inflation Rate Cools In November; S&P 500 Rallies

Earnings Reports: Tis (Almost) The Q4 Season

Earnings grind to a halt in the coming holiday week with the Q3 reporting season largely exhausted. With one more quarter to go, FactSet reported, as of Dec. 13, analysts project an overall 9.5% earnings gain for S&P 500 companies in 2024. That would mark a fourth straight year of earnings growth. Analysts see Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon.com (AMZN), Alphabet and Meta Platforms (META) delivering combined earnings growth of 33% for 2024. The index's other 493 companies are estimated to deliver earnings growth of just over 4%. Eight of 11 sectors are forecast to report earnings gains. Energy is the only sector expected to report a double-digit decline in earnings.

Earnings Estimates Look Firm For These Companies

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