NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 12:32 ET — Market closed.
- U.S. stocks ended 2025 lower in the final session, but all three major indexes posted double-digit annual gains.
- Wall Street is shut on Thursday for New Year’s Day, with trading set to resume Friday, Jan. 2.
- Investors head into 2026 focused on the Federal Reserve’s rate path and a return to key U.S. data releases after the shutdown-related gap.
U.S. stock markets were closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day after Wall Street finished 2025 with a late slide but strong yearly gains. The S&P 500 ended Wednesday down 0.74% at 6,845.50, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.76% and the Dow slipped 0.63%.
The year-end tape matters because investors are starting 2026 with a rally that has been heavily shaped by interest-rate expectations and a narrow group of mega-cap winners. With fresh economic data due in coming days and weeks, traders are recalibrating what “higher for longer” or “cuts soon” means for equity valuations. Reuters+1
It also arrives after thin holiday trading amplified moves and undercut the usual “Santa Claus rally” — the seasonal tendency for stocks to rise in the last five trading days of December and the first two of January. Reuters reported U.S. exchange volume on Wednesday was 11.17 billion shares versus a 20-day average of 15.8 billion. Reuters
On the final day of 2025, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 303.77 points to 48,063.29, the S&P 500 lost 50.74 points, and the Nasdaq shed 177.09 points to 23,241.99. For the year, the S&P 500 gained 16.39%, the Nasdaq rose 20.36% and the Dow climbed 12.97%; the Russell 2000 added 11.26%.
Energy and technology were among the biggest sector drags on Wednesday, with Microsoft down 0.8% and EQT Corp off 1.9%, Reuters reported. The Dow still notched its eighth straight monthly gain, while the S&P 500 finished December slightly lower, snapping its own run of monthly advances.
The year’s leadership stayed tied to artificial intelligence-related spending themes. Reuters reported Nvidia was up 39% in 2025 and became the first publicly traded company to reach a $5 trillion market value, while Alphabet jumped 65% and helped lift the communication services sector to the top spot for the year.
Beneath the mega-caps, storage-chip makers including Micron Technology, Western Digital and Seagate more than tripled in 2025, Reuters said, a move investors linked to demand for data centers and AI infrastructure. That outperformance has sharpened debate over whether 2026 gains can broaden beyond the biggest names.
Stock-specific catalysts still drove pockets of trading into the close. Nike climbed 4% after CEO Elliott Hill disclosed he recently bought about $1 million worth of shares, while Vanda Pharmaceuticals jumped after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug for preventing motion-induced vomiting, Reuters reported.
Investors also digested the Federal Reserve’s latest signals. Minutes released on Tuesday showed policymakers were split at the December 9-10 meeting even as most ultimately backed a quarter-point cut that lowered the benchmark rate to a 3.5%-3.75% range; officials also discussed getting closer to a “neutral” level that neither restrains nor stimulates the economy. Reuters
“I do not expect that the last few days will have so much bearing on the performance of the next year,” said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity. Separately, Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Jitania Kandhari told Reuters she expects market leadership to broaden in 2026, favoring equal-weighted measures — where each stock counts the same — over cap-weighted indexes dominated by the largest companies. Reuters+1
Wall Street is shut all day Thursday, and there will be no pre-market or after-hours sessions, Fortune reported. Trading is set to resume on Friday, Jan. 2, according to Fortune and CBS News.
Before the next session on Friday, traders will be watching whether the S&P 500 can stabilize after four straight sessions of declines and whether early 2026 inflows chase the same AI-linked leaders or rotate toward lagging sectors. Holiday-thin liquidity has made recent moves look larger, a setup that can exaggerate reactions to headlines.
The next clear macro catalysts are already dated. The Fed minutes said December jobs and consumer price data are due on Jan. 9 and Jan. 13 as the calendar returns to normal after the 43-day government shutdown disrupted releases; the Fed’s next policy meeting is scheduled for Jan. 27-28, with investors expecting no change for now.
Technically, the S&P 500’s 6,845 close leaves it in the middle of a tight year-end range after Tuesday’s 6,896 finish. Traders often treat round-number areas as battlegrounds in thin markets, with 6,800 as near-term support and 6,900–7,000 as the next cluster of resistance if buyers return.
