A trader works at his desk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after the opening bell in New York.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
The S&P 500 reached a new high on Friday and was pacing for weekly gains as traders came back from the Christmas holiday.
The broad market index was last down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 70 points, or 0.2%, lower.
For the week, the S&P 500 was up more than 1%, putting the benchmark on track for its fourth weekly advance in five weeks. The Dow and Nasdaq were also up more than 1% week to date.
Wall Street is also coming off a record-setting session, with the S&P 500 setting new intraday and closing all-time highs on Wednesday. U.S. markets were closed Thursday due to the Christmas holiday.
“2025 is coming to an end with a few more positives than negatives this year,” wrote Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat. “While the common narrative revolves around an “AI Bubble” and tariff fears, along with volatility possibly surrounding another government shutdown and/or tariffs and inflation, U.S. stocks have largely ignored all of these fears thus far, heading into late 2025.”
Investors are also in a historically strong seasonal period, as they await a potential Santa Claus rally. The rally occurs between the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the new year. Data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac shows the S&P 500 averages a 1.3% gain during that time going back to 1950.
