Dec. 24, 2025 — After the bell: Alphabet Inc.’s Class C shares (NASDAQ: GOOG) finished the holiday-shortened Christmas Eve session near the $315–$316 area, essentially flat on the day, as trading volumes across U.S. equities thinned into the year-end “Santa rally” window. [1]
If you’re preparing for “tomorrow’s open,” one important detail comes first: U.S. stock markets are closed on Thursday, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day). The next U.S. equity session is Friday, Dec. 26, when major exchanges are scheduled to run a full trading day (after today’s early close). [2]
Below is what matters for Alphabet/Google stock (GOOG) right now—today’s price action, the most relevant headlines and analysis published today, and the setup into the next trading session.
GOOG stock price today: What happened into the close on Dec. 24, 2025
Alphabet Class C shares ended the session near $315.67, with trading constrained by the shortened session and typical pre-holiday liquidity. GOOG’s day range was roughly $313–$317, and volume was notably lighter than a normal full session. [3]
A few context markers that matter for how traders frame this close:
- Today’s session ended early (GOOG quotes show “market closed” around 1:00 p.m. ET), which often compresses volume and can reduce the informational value of late-day moves. [4]
- GOOG remains below its 52-week high near $328.67, a level many short-term traders still reference as resistance after a strong 2025 run. [5]
Why this matters: In thin holiday markets, single headlines can swing large-cap tech more than usual—especially around AI infrastructure and regulation themes that have dominated Alphabet’s 2025 narrative.
The market backdrop after the bell: Santa rally, record highs, and AI spending in focus
Alphabet stock didn’t trade in a vacuum today. U.S. markets broadly extended a multi-session advance: the Dow and S&P 500 notched record closes, and the session marked a fifth straight day of gains for the major indexes in a holiday-shortened tape. [6]
A key nuance from today’s market coverage: the same “AI trade” that’s powered much of the bull market is also where investors are debating 2026 risk/reward.
- Reuters’ year-end outlook published today highlighted AI spending, corporate earnings strength, and the path of Fed rate cuts as swing factors for 2026 performance. [7]
- Reuters’ market wrap also noted that recent index gains were helped by a rebound in AI-related names after a pullback tied to concerns about high capital expenditures and valuation pressure. [8]
For Alphabet, that macro framing matters because the stock is often treated as a “quality AI platform + advertising cash-flow” proxy—meaning any change in the market’s appetite for AI capex stories can show up in GOOG quickly.
The Alphabet headlines that mattered today (Dec. 24, 2025)
Not every news day is an “Alphabet earnings” day—but today did bring several Alphabet-adjacent developments that can influence sentiment into the next session.
1) Waymo responds to the San Francisco outage: software update + regulator scrutiny
Alphabet’s autonomous driving unit Waymo said it will update its software and improve emergency response protocols after a recent San Francisco power outage left robotaxis stalled and contributed to congestion. California regulators are reviewing the incident, according to reporting today. [9]
Waymo also published details explaining the operational “why”: the outage created a surge of confirmation checks at dark intersections, prompting fleet-wide updates to help vehicles navigate outages more decisively. [10]
What investors take from this:
Waymo is still a smaller contributor to Alphabet’s consolidated revenue, but it’s one of the most closely watched “option value” parts of the Alphabet story. Operational reliability, safety oversight, and regulatory posture can move sentiment—especially in a holiday tape where big headlines face less competing flow.
2) A federal judge blocks Texas app-store age law—implications for Google Play
A U.S. judge blocked a Texas law that would have required app stores and developers to verify ages and obtain parental consent for minors for downloads and in-app purchases. The ruling is viewed as a win for major app ecosystem operators, including Google. [11]
Why this matters for Alphabet stock:
While not a direct “earnings lever” on its own, app-store compliance mandates can create operational friction, legal risk, and ecosystem changes. A pause or block reduces near-term uncertainty for distribution platforms.
3) AI infrastructure spending scrutiny: “black box” accounting concerns raised today
A Wall Street Journal analysis published today spotlighted growing investor concern that AI infrastructure spending can be hard to evaluate because costs often sit inside broad “construction-in-progress” buckets, with limited disclosure on the mix of long-lived buildings versus rapidly obsolescing AI chips and equipment. Alphabet is among the companies referenced in the broader trend. [12]
What to watch:
This is the kind of narrative that can ripple into price action without any single Alphabet-specific announcement: markets can reward AI capex if returns look compelling—and punish it if transparency and payback become questioned.
4) Google Search’s December 2025 core update remains active (relevant for the ecosystem)
For readers publishing or monetizing content via Google surfaces (including Discover), an official datapoint: Google’s Search Status Dashboard shows the December 2025 core update is still listed as Active, with a start time on Dec. 11 and status pages updated on Dec. 24. [13]
Investor relevance (indirect):
Core updates don’t usually move GOOG day-to-day, but they can influence the content/SEO ecosystem and publisher behavior—part of the broader health of Google’s search and ads environment.
The big near-term Alphabet catalyst still in play: Intersect acquisition for AI power and data centers
Although announced earlier this week (not today), this remains central to “what you should know before the next open” because it directly touches the AI infrastructure narrative.
Alphabet announced an agreement to acquire Intersect for $4.75 billion in cash plus the assumption of debt, positioning the deal as a way to advance U.S. energy innovation and support data center infrastructure needs. [14]
Coverage framed the move as part of the industry-wide push to secure electricity and power infrastructure for AI-era data centers. [15]
Why the market cares:
Power availability is increasingly viewed as a binding constraint on AI scaling. Alphabet’s willingness to buy into infrastructure is bullish to some investors (securing supply), but it also ties back to the capex-return debate highlighted in today’s macro coverage.
Wall Street forecasts for GOOG: price targets, ratings, and the next earnings checkpoint
Here’s the cleanest “what the Street thinks” snapshot heading into the next session:
- On Stock Analysis’ compiled view, GOOG has an analyst consensus of “Strong Buy,” with an average price target around $307.88 (slightly below current levels in that dataset). [16]
- Another widely cited dataset (MarketWatch’s analyst estimates page) lists an average recommendation of “Buy” and an average target price around $334.50 (with dozens of contributing ratings). [17]
Why the targets differ:
Different aggregators include different firms, refresh cycles, and whether they treat GOOG vs. GOOGL identically in their panels. The practical takeaway isn’t “which one is right,” but that Alphabet is still broadly treated as a core large-cap tech holding, with debate centered more on upside magnitude than on existential downside.
Next major scheduled catalyst: earnings date
GOOG’s next earnings release is widely tracked for early February. Nasdaq’s earnings page lists an upcoming earnings date estimate of Feb. 3, 2026. [18]
Between now and then, the market tends to re-price Alphabet on:
- ad demand (Search/YouTube),
- Google Cloud momentum,
- AI product traction (and monetization),
- capex intensity and evidence of returns.
What to know before the market reopens (next session: Friday, Dec. 26, 2025)
Because Dec. 25 is a market holiday, the more useful framing is: what could move GOOG between now and the next tradable session?
1) Expect thin liquidity and headline sensitivity
Reuters explicitly flagged thin volumes and the Christmas shutdown in today’s tape. Lower participation can amplify moves—up or down—on relatively modest news. [19]
2) Watch for follow-through on the day’s Alphabet-related headlines
Key “overnight risk” buckets tied to today’s news flow:
- Waymo: any additional regulator commentary, service changes, recalls, or incident reporting (today’s story already notes active regulatory attention). [20]
- App-store regulation: reactions to the Texas ruling and whether other states attempt similar measures. [21]
- AI capex narrative: more investor commentary and media focus on returns/transparency (today’s accounting “black box” discussion is exactly the kind of theme that can bleed into megacap positioning). [22]
3) Macro remains a co-driver for megacap tech
Two points from today’s Reuters reporting that matter for Alphabet positioning into year-end:
- The market is still anchored to whether 2026 can deliver strong returns via earnings growth, AI spend that produces returns, and a dovish enough Fed. [23]
- The Santa-rally period has started amid record highs—an environment where positioning can become crowded and reversals can be sharp if the narrative shifts. [24]
4) Don’t mix up GOOG and GOOGL when reacting to headlines
Alphabet has two main listed share classes:
- GOOG (Class C): no voting rights
- GOOGL (Class A): voting rights
They typically move in tandem, but flows and liquidity can differ slightly. Many headlines cite “Alphabet shares” without specifying the class—so double-check which ticker is moving when you see a price alert.
5) Short-dated options can amplify Friday moves
With the next full session on Friday, weekly options activity can matter for intraday swings. MarketWatch’s options page highlights contracts expiring Dec. 26, 2025 for GOOG. [25]
(That’s not a prediction of volatility—just a reminder that expiry mechanics can change the feel of the tape, especially in a thin holiday week.)
Bottom line for Alphabet (GOOG) after the bell on Dec. 24, 2025
Alphabet’s Class C stock closed Christmas Eve trading essentially steady near $316, while the broader market leaned into record highs and a seasonal rally backdrop. [26]
The most relevant “today” inputs for GOOG watchers are:
- Waymo’s software and protocol updates after the San Francisco outage (and the associated regulatory spotlight), [27]
- a Texas app-store law being blocked, easing one near-term regulatory overhang for the platform ecosystem, [28]
- and renewed debate over whether AI infrastructure spending will deliver durable returns—a theme that will likely remain a core driver into 2026. [29]
Reminder: U.S. markets are closed Dec. 25 and reopen Dec. 26; don’t confuse the calendar when planning “tomorrow” trades. [30]
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
References
1. stockanalysis.com, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. stockanalysis.com, 4. stockanalysis.com, 5. stockanalysis.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. www.reuters.com, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. waymo.com, 11. www.reuters.com, 12. www.wsj.com, 13. status.search.google.com, 14. abc.xyz, 15. apnews.com, 16. stockanalysis.com, 17. www.marketwatch.com, 18. www.nasdaq.com, 19. www.reuters.com, 20. www.reuters.com, 21. www.reuters.com, 22. www.wsj.com, 23. www.reuters.com, 24. www.reuters.com, 25. www.marketwatch.com, 26. www.reuters.com, 27. www.reuters.com, 28. www.reuters.com, 29. www.reuters.com, 30. www.reuters.com
