*

Stocks drop in broad sell-off; Dow snaps 5-session win run

*

Top 45 S&P 500 performers YTD all end down

*

Indexes down on Friday: Dow 0.77%, S&P 500 1.11%, Nasdaq

1.49%

*

All three up for week: Dow 0.36%, S&P 500 0.7%, Nasdaq

0.75%

(Adds closing prices)

By David French

Dec 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's holiday cheer ended

abruptly on Friday, with all three main benchmarks closing lower

in a broad-based sell-off affecting even tech and growth stocks

that had driven markets higher through much of the shortened

trading week.

The decline ended the Dow Jones Industrial Average's

five-session winning streak that had followed a 10-session

decline, its worst losing stretch since 1974.

The Dow fell 333.59 points, or 0.77%, to 42,992.21. The S&P

500 lost 66.75 points, or 1.11%, to finish at 5,970.84

points, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 298.33

points, or 1.49%, to end at 19,722.03.

"Today feels like there is quite a bit of profit-taking

across the board," said Michael Reynolds, vice president of

investment strategy at Glenmede.

"We are more than two years into a pretty strong bull market

... so it's really not surprising to see some people taking

their profits and rebalancing their portfolios ahead of the new

year."

Highlighting the profit-taking theme, the 45 top performers

year-to-date on the S&P 500 all finished lower on Friday.

The sell-off thwarted the seasonal Santa Claus rally, in

which stocks traditionally rise during the last five sessions of

December and the first two of January. Since 1969, the S&P 500

has climbed 1.3% on average, according to the Stock Trader's

Almanac.

Thursday's session hinted at momentum stalling, with both

the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting marginal losses to end

multi-session winning runs.

Rising U.S. Treasury yields had been catching investors'

attention, with the benchmark 10-year note hitting a

more than seven-month high in the previous session. The yield

hovered close to that mark on Friday, at 4.63%.

Higher yields are seen as hampering growth stocks, as they

raise borrowing costs for business expansion. These stocks,

especially the so-called Magnificent Seven technology megacaps

which had been key drivers of the market's 2024 rally, were also

caught up in Friday's sell-off.

For the second successive day, Tesla led decliners

among the group, dropping 5%. Among the other members, Nvidia ( NVDA )

shed 2.1% while Alphabet, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and

Microsoft ( MSFT ) all slipped more than 1.5%.

"We have a higher cost of capital whenever rates go up like

this, and they have gone up pretty significantly over the last

month or so," said Glenmede's Reynolds.

"Investors may just be reassessing the bets they are taking

when the cost of capital is higher, perhaps looking at some of

the valuations on the Mag 7 and wondering whether they can find

better value elsewhere."

All of the 11 major S&P sectors fell. Friday's worst

performers were the three indexes which have been 2024's leading

lights: consumer discretionary, information technology

and communication services. The trio dropped

between 1.1% and 1.9% on the day.

Despite Friday's declines, all three indexes recorded weekly

gains. For the week, the S&P 500 advanced 0.7%, the Dow edged up

0.36% and the Nasdaq climbed 0.75%.

News events helped some stocks to buck the market sell-off.

Amedisys ( AMED ) gained 4.7%, its best one-day advance

since July 1, after the home health service provider and insurer

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) extended the deadline to close their $3.3

billion merger.

Lamb Weston ( LW ) climbed 2.6% after a filing showed activist

investor Jana Partners is working with a sixth executive to push

for changes at the French fry maker, a move which could result

in a majority of the company's board being replaced.

Trading volumes in this holiday-shortened week have been

below the average of the last six months and are likely to

remain subdued until Jan. 6. The next major focus for markets

will be the December employment report due on Jan. 10.