Welcome to Closing Bell. I'm Sarah Eisen in for Scott Wapner, live at post-9 of the New York Stock Exchange.

This make-or-break hour begins with a setup for stocks as we charge toward the new year.

Here's a look at the scorecard with 60 minutes to go in regulation.

After strong back-to-back gains to start the holiday week, stocks are hugging the flatline today, thin holiday trading.

Today's data, jobless claims coming in below

expectations. That was good news. However, continuing claims hitting its highest level in three

years. We're going to discuss what that cooling labor market is signaling about the strength of the

overall economy, what it might mean for the Fed. Former Deputy Treasury Secretary and Evercore

founder and senior chairman Roger Altman is with me to discuss.

Taking a look at yields, continuing to grind higher. The tenure back above 4.6 earlier in the session pulled a little bit back.

Its highest level since May and near the highs going back to 2022. That takes us to our talk of the tape.

With the fate of the

Santa Claus rally hanging in the balance, what's in store for stocks heading into 2025? Let's ask our

panel, New Edge Wealth's Cameron Dawson, wealth enhancement groups, Ayako, Yoshioca, and BMO's

Young Yuma. Welcome to all of you. Cameron, the 10-year yield. Is that a headwin for stocks?

It certainly should be, given the fact that stocks are trading at 22.3 times forward earnings,

but we're not certain if the tenure can continue this momentum higher simply because it's

diverging from economic surprises so much. So economic data has been coming in a little bit weaker than expected,

like those continuing claims, but 10-year treasury yields keep pressing higher.

Eventually, that gap will close, meaning that either data has to come in better to support these higher yields or yields will fall.

So maybe stocks can get a

little bit of a breather as we get into 2025 if yields start to turn lower. Young You, do you,

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