NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 16:24 ET — Market closed
- Booking shares last closed down 1.3% on the final trading day of 2025, underperforming online travel peers.
- Trading was light, with volume well below the recent average, as Wall Street drifted lower into year-end.
- Focus shifts to early-January U.S. data and Booking’s next earnings window as markets reopen on Friday.
Booking Holdings’ shares were last down 1.3% at $5,355.33 on Wednesday, the last trading session of 2025, while U.S. markets were shut on Thursday for the New Year’s Day holiday.
The move matters heading into 2026 because Booking is still trading not far from its 52-week peak, leaving investors sensitive to any shift in travel demand and consumer spending trends.
Thin holiday liquidity can magnify price swings, and investors are looking for fresh signposts as “the flow of economic data returns to normal,” after a choppy year, strategists said. “It was a rather tiring year looking back on it,” said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon. Reuters
Booking fell for a second straight day and lagged rivals in online travel, with Expedia Group down 0.6%, Trip.com off 0.6% and Tripadvisor down 0.6% in the same session.
Trading volume in Booking was light at about 106,656 shares, compared with a 50-day average of 268,473, MarketWatch data showed.
The slide came as Wall Street ended 2025 lower in a subdued session, with the S&P 500 down 0.74%, the Dow down 0.63% and the Nasdaq off 0.76%, Reuters reported.
Booking, which operates brands including Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak, last reported quarterly results in October, beating Wall Street expectations and pointing to steady travel demand despite broader macro uncertainty.
The company has also continued returning cash to shareholders; its third-quarter release said the board declared a $9.60-per-share dividend payable on Dec. 31.
With markets reopening on Friday, investors in travel and consumer-discretionary stocks are likely to take cues from early January U.S. releases that can move interest-rate expectations and household spending assumptions.
The Labor Department’s monthly Employment Situation report for December is scheduled for Jan. 9, followed by the December Consumer Price Index on Jan. 13, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics schedule.
The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee meets Jan. 27–28, another major checkpoint for markets recalibrating the path of borrowing costs in 2026.
For Booking, attention turns to the next earnings update; market calendars list Feb. 19, 2026 as the expected date for fourth-quarter results, though such dates can shift until the company confirms.
Technically, Booking ended Wednesday near the $5,350 area after two sessions of declines, with the next overhead test around recent late-December closes and a longer-term reference at the July high near $5,839, based on recent price levels.
Investors will be watching whether Booking can sustain growth in “gross bookings” — the total value of travel services reserved on its platforms — and protect margins as competition remains active across online travel heading into 2026.
