NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 17:48 ET — After-hours
- Meta added about 1.1% after the company said it would buy AI startup Manus, a deal a source valued at $2–$3 billion.
- Nvidia and other AI-chip names were mixed as thin year-end trading kept moves muted.
- Fed minutes showed policymakers split over December’s rate cut, putting the next batch of economic data in focus.
Meta Platforms rose on Tuesday after the Facebook owner said it would acquire Chinese-founded artificial intelligence startup Manus, keeping the spotlight on “agent” software that can act on a user’s behalf.
The move matters now because Big Tech’s AI spending cycle is shifting beyond chatbots toward tools designed to do work, not just answer questions. Deals and funding rounds are one way companies try to buy speed in a crowded market.
It also lands into year-end positioning, when light volumes can exaggerate moves and investors rebalance away from crowded winners. Rate expectations add another lever: growth stocks tend to react when investors reset assumptions about the path of Federal Reserve cuts.
The S&P 500 fell 0.14% to 6,896.24, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.23% and the Dow ended down 0.20% in choppy trade. Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, said the recent dip in heavyweight tech looked like a rebalancing rather than an emotionally driven sell-off. Reuters
Meta was last at $665.95, up about 1.1% on the day, while Nvidia was at $187.54, down about 0.3%. Microsoft edged up about 0.1%, Oracle rose about 0.9% and AMD eased about 0.1%.
Meta said it will operate and sell the Manus service and integrate it into products including Meta AI, and a source with direct knowledge said the deal values Manus at $2 billion to $3 billion. “Scrutiny is almost guaranteed; anything with Chinese roots and ‘AI’ in the headline now triggers Washington’s reflexes,” said Jeremy Goldman, senior director at Emarketer. Reuters
Separate funding news underscored how much capital is still moving into AI infrastructure. SoftBank has completed its $40 billion investment in OpenAI, a source familiar with the matter said, after a deal that valued OpenAI at about $300 billion post-money and a later secondary sale that valued it around $500 billion, according to PitchBook data. Reuters
Compute spending stayed in view as Elon Musk said xAI has bought a third building to expand AI infrastructure, targeting nearly 2 gigawatts of training capacity. xAI is planning to expand its Colossus supercomputer to house at least 1 million graphics processing units, the report said. Reuters
Macro stayed a pressure point for AI and other long-duration growth stocks after minutes from the Fed’s December 9–10 meeting showed deep divisions around the quarter-point rate cut to a 3.5%–3.75% range. Investors are now looking to the Fed’s Jan. 27–28 meeting, where markets expect policymakers to keep rates unchanged. Reuters
For traders, the near-term test is whether year-end rotation keeps pressuring the biggest AI winners, or if dips keep drawing buyers into 2026. The next wave of labor and inflation data is likely to matter as much as deal headlines, because it shapes what investors are willing to pay for future AI-driven earnings.
