The U.S. stock market kicked off this week on a "contrary wind": the selling of technology stocks spread, and the market fell into volatility again before key data releases.

Note that the US stock market closed lower on Monday as selling of tech stocks continued and traders prepared for a large amount of upcoming economic data. The S&P 500 Index closed down 0.2% in New York, erasing early gains, marking the second consecutive trading day of decline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.5%, marking the third consecutive trading day of decline for this benchmark index. Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG, said, "The positive sentiment from the early session has dissipated, with selling from last Friday continuing into Monday's US trading session." He added, "Following such a strong recovery since April, the temptation for many investors to take profits must be strong, especially with a lot of macro events scheduled for this week." Poor performance of tech stocks last week was attributed to renewed concerns about artificial intelligence. Disappointing earnings reports from Oracle Corporation and Broadcom Inc intensified these concerns, overshadowing the optimism from the Fed rate cut. Rick Gardner, Chief Investment Officer at RGA Investments, believes whether investors will continue to accept the high valuations of large tech and AI stocks is a "big question for 2026." He pointed out that while the technology shows "huge prospects," the valuations of many stocks are trading as if all AI productivity has already been realized. Seven tech giants closed mixed, with NVIDIA Corporation, Meta, and Tesla, Inc. seeing gains. The index of these seven tech giants rose by 0.1%. The S&P 500 Index marked its second consecutive trading day of decline. Mark Hackett from Nationwide believes concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble "may be overblown." Hackett stated, "This is not a market-wide phenomenon - it's very stock-specific, and relatively controllable." While some individual stocks have a greater impact on the S&P 500 Index than others, he believes the risk is diminishing as market leadership shifts and investors diversify away from a narrow group of companies. He added, "What we are seeing more resembles a market recalibration." Traders will now turn their attention to the upcoming economic data to be released this week. Non-farm payroll data for October and November, as well as the unemployment rate report for November, are set to be released on Tuesday. Following that, partial Consumer Price Index (CPI) reports for October and the complete CPI report for November will be released on Thursday. For traders, this week's economic data will help fill the data gap caused by the government shutdown. Economists expect job numbers to increase by 50,000 in November with an unemployment rate of 4.5%. Wall Street strategists remain optimistic about US stocks. Michael Wilson of Morgan Stanley stated that moderately weak employment data this week could increase the likelihood of further Fed rate cuts, boosting bullish sentiment in the stock market. In a report released on Monday, Wilson wrote, "We are back into the 'good news is bad news/bad news is good news' mode." He said, "This means that moderate weakness in the labor market is likely to be perceived as bullish by the stock market." Meanwhile, Scott Chronert of Citi and other strategists have become the latest to predict double-digit gains for the US stock market next year. Chronert predicts that by the end of 2026, the S&P 500 Index will rise to 7,700 points, with strong earnings and expectations of loose monetary policy at the core of this forecast.