Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, December 24th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan. Our top story so far.

You might have to wait a bit longer for that egg-dong latte. Starbucks may be facing its biggest barista strike ever on Christmas Eve.

The coffee store chain said that over the course of the weekend and on Monday,

approximately 60 stores in total were temporarily closed because of the actions called for

by the Workers United Union.

Workers United said that its unfair labor practice strike will hit historic levels

Tuesday as hundreds of stores from coast to coast prepared to join the walkouts. The union said the

strike before Christmas is projected to be the largest ever strike at the coffee giant,

surpassing the 2023 Red Cup Rebellion, with over 5,000 workers at more than 300 stores nationwide expected

to walk off of the job on Christmas Eve. But the company noted that an overwhelming

majority of Starbucks stores across the country have opened as planned and are busy. And some of the

stores that temporarily closed earlier on the weekend have reopened as partners sought to come

back to work.

The public conversation may likely important context that the vast majority of our stores,

97 to 99%, will continue to operate and serve customers, and we expect a very limited impact to our overall operations, it added.

Shares of Starbucks have fallen 8% over the last two weeks, but snapped an 8th session losing streak today, closing up 2.8%.

In today's trading, Santa Claus did in fact come to town to kick off the Santa Rally period.

Stocks gained ground steadily from the open to the early market close at 1pm.

The NASDAQ led the charge rising 1.35% and reclaiming the 20,000 mark.

The S&P added 1.1%, finishing back above 6,000. The Dow gained 0.9%, ending above 43,000.

As noted on Sunday's Wall Street brunch, the Santa Claus rally was first recorded in 1972

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