Software and Platform Stocks Week Ahead: AI Spending Scrutiny, Cloud Security Mega-Deals, and Holiday-Shortened Trading (Dec. 22–26, 2025)
Dec. 21, 2025 — Software and platform stocks head into the Christmas week balancing two powerful forces: a thinner, holiday-shortened market that can amplify price swings, and a still-evolving narrative around the AI buildout—specifically, when massive infrastructure spending turns into measurable profits. By Friday’s close, investors were once again talking about a potential “Santa Claus rally,” but the setup feels different than in a typical year. The sector’s winners are increasingly defined by platform leverage (cloud ecosystems, cybersecurity suites, and data/AI tooling) rather than simple “growth at any price.” At the same time, several high-growth SaaS names face tougher comparisons