NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 08:21 ET
- Nvidia completed a $5 billion purchase of Intel shares under a September deal, an Intel filing showed.
- U.S. stock index futures edged lower early Monday after the S&P 500 and Dow ended last week at record highs.
- Investors are bracing for a thin, holiday-shortened week with Fed minutes and jobless claims on the calendar.
U.S. stock index futures slipped on Monday as Nvidia completed a $5 billion purchase of Intel shares, adding a fresh headline to a year-end rally led by technology and AI-linked stocks. Intel disclosed the transaction in a filing on Monday 1 . 5
The move lands as markets head into the final, holiday-shortened trading week of 2025 with benchmarks sitting at record highs and investors looking for signs the late-December “Santa Claus rally” can extend. The term refers to a seasonal pattern of gains in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to Stock Trader’s Almanac 2 . 6
Rate expectations are also shaping positioning, with traders watching whether the Federal Reserve will keep tilting toward cuts in 2026 as inflation cools. “We’re not seeing runaway inflation risk as a base case so we’re still thinking the Fed has room to cut,” Fidelity International multi-asset portfolio manager Becky Qin said 3 . 3
At 5:40 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 3 points, or 0.01%, while S&P 500 E-minis fell 0.22% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis dropped 0.40%, a Reuters report showed 2 . E-mini futures are derivatives contracts that track major stock indexes. 6
In premarket trading, Nvidia fell 1.1% and Oracle slid 1.6%, while Tesla was down 1.4% after hitting a record high last week, the Reuters report said 2 . 6
Wall Street’s main indexes finished flat on Friday but are set for gains in December, helped by a rally in technology stocks after an upbeat Micron forecast earlier in the month, Reuters reported 2 . 6
Investors will also watch the minutes from the Fed’s prior meeting and weekly jobless claims in an otherwise light data week, Reuters said 2 . 6
The Intel filing showed Nvidia paid $23.28 per share for more than 214.7 million Intel shares in a private placement, meaning shares were sold directly to an investor rather than in the open market. U.S. antitrust agencies cleared the investment earlier this month, Reuters reported 1 . 5
Nvidia’s stake is viewed as a financial boost for Intel after years of strategic missteps and heavy spending on production capacity strained its finances, the Reuters report said 1 . Nvidia shares were down 1.3% in premarket trading, while Intel stock was little changed. 5
On the deal front elsewhere, DigitalBridge jumped 34% after Bloomberg News reported Japan’s SoftBank was in advanced talks to acquire the digital infrastructure firm, Reuters said 2 . 6
Precious-metals miners fell as gold and silver pulled back after last week’s record highs, weighing on some materials names in early trading, Reuters reported 2 . 6
Some traders are also watching whether high-profile names remain in so-called “buy areas,” a chart-based range that technical analysts view as a favorable entry point after a stock breaks above a key level. Investor’s Business Daily highlighted Tesla, Nvidia and GE Aerospace among stocks in focus into year-end 4 .
The broader backdrop remains an AI-driven advance in global equities, with investors hesitant to cut exposure while rate-cut bets persist, Reuters reported 3 . 3
