US stocks opened higher on Thursday to kick off the first trading day of the new year, while Tesla slipped after posting its first annual drop in electric vehicle deliveries.

“The stock market ended 2024 with a whimper, but it is poised to begin 2025 with a bang,” Briefing.com’s Patrick O’Hare wrote in a note before markets opened on Wall Street.

A few minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7 percent at 42,829.28, while the broad-based S&P 500 Index rose 0.4 percent to 5,907.00.

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.3 percent to 19,375.40.

“The start of a new year always has certain machinations,” B. Riley Wealth Management’s Art Hogan told AFP.

“Everyone’s 401(k) and IRAs have new money to be put to work,” he said, referring to two popular forms of retirement savings accounts. “That’s typical of the start of any quarter, but even more emphasized at the start of a new year.”

Among individual firms, the electric vehicle maker Tesla saw its share price fall 6.9 percent in early trading after it missed sales estimates and posted its first ever annual decline in deliveries.