Updates to afternoon

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street veered lower on Monday in light volume at the top of a holiday-shortened week in the second-to-last trading session of an eventful year in which all three indexes posted strong double-digit gains.

End-of-year tax positioning, valuations, climbing Treasury yields and uncertainties about 2025 all convinced investors to sell. The three major U.S. stock indexes bounced off early lows but still were down more than 0.5%.

The broad selloff dragged 10 of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors into negative territory for the session.

"Investors are saying the S&P, even after this recent sell off, is up over 50% in the last two years," said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York. "Maybe we should take some chips off the table and protect those gains. And when you have thin volume, it doesn’t take a lot (to move markets)."

Despite recent weakness, 2024 has been a banner year for U.S. equities. The Nasdaq is on track for a 29% annual gain and the S&P 500 is headed for a 23% rise for 2024. The Dow was last up more than 12% since the last closing levels of 2023.

On the sector level, technology .SPLRCT, communication services .SPLRCL and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD were on course to notch gains of nearly 30% or more, while materials .SPLRCM appear poised to nab the dubious distinction of the only sector to have lost ground on the year.

It was a year during which geopolitical tensions came to a boil in the Middle East and elsewhere, while the Federal Reserve cut U.S. interest rates for the first time in over four years.

In U.S. politics, former President Donald Trump was convicted of 32 felonies early in the year, then won re-election to a second term after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race to be replaced as Democratic candidate by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Chip maker Nvidia's NVDA.O stock shot up nearly 180% this year as investors placed heavy bets on the promise of emergent artificial intelligence $(AI)$ technology.

"Next year is going to be much more volatile for investors, in particular in the first quarter," Pursche added. "However, I do think there’s a good chance of stocks doing reasonably well and having mid-single-digit returns next year."

"The combination of likely lower taxes and a friendlier regulatory environment is likely to result in stocks rising well beyond fair valuations," Pursche said, citing investor expectations that Trump will deliver on his campaign promises.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 251.75 points, or 0.59%, to 42,741.60, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 36.43 points, or 0.61%, to 5,934.41 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 120.13 points, or 0.61%, to 19,601.59.

Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, all but energy .SPNY were in negative territory. Consumer discretionary .SPLRCD had the largest percentage loss, falling 1.1%

Boeing BA.N shares fell 1.6% after South Korea's acting president Choi Sang-mok ordered an emergency safety inspection of its entire airline operation following the deadliest air accident in that country's history, involving a Boeing 737-800.

Crypto stocks including MicroStrategy MSTR.O Coinbase COIN.O and MARA Holdings MARA.O tumbled from 3.4% to 4.1%, tracking bitcoin BTC= weakness.

Biden declared a national day of mourning on Thursday Jan. 9 to mark the death on Sunday of former President Jimmy Carter.

The U.S. stock market will be closed that day.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.58-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 41 new highs and 208 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 1,657 stocks rose and 2,663 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.61-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 15 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 51 new highs and 103 new lows.

(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)

((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com))