Dow Jones Today (Dec. 25, 2025): DJIA Holds a Record Close as Wall Street Shuts for Christmas

NEW YORK — December 25, 2025 — The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is spending Christmas Day at an all-time closing high, even though U.S. stock markets are dark today. After a holiday-shortened session on Christmas Eve, the Dow finished up 0.6% at 48,731.16, locking in a fresh record close as investors leaned into year-end optimism and the early stirrings of the “Santa Claus rally.” ^[1]

That’s the core Dow Jones story on 25.12.2025: no cash equity trading today—but plenty of headline gravity around where stocks go when the lights come back on Friday, and whether the calm, record-setting mood can survive the thin-liquidity “in-between week” that follows Christmas. ^[2]

Is the Dow Jones open today? Here’s what’s trading—and what isn’t

If you’re checking the Dow Jones index today and wondering why nothing is moving: the NYSE and Nasdaq are closed on Thursday, December 25, 2025 (Christmas Day). ^[3]

A quick schedule refresher that matters for anyone following “Dow Jones today” headlines:

Wednesday, Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve): U.S. equities had an early close at 1:00 p.m. ET. ^[4]
Thursday, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day): U.S. equities markets are closed. ^[5]
Friday, Dec. 26: U.S. markets reopen for a full session, though many desks expect lighter-than-normal volume with year-end positioning largely done. ^[6]

Meanwhile, index futures follow their own holiday rules. On CME Globex, Christmas Day includes a closure window, followed by a reopening the evening of Dec. 25 (6:30 p.m. ET) for certain products—often the first “price discovery” moment after the holiday pause. ^[7]

Dow Jones recap: the record close that set the tone for Christmas Day headlines

Because markets are shut today, the freshest “Dow Jones index today” reporting is essentially a postscript to Christmas Eve’s short session—and it was a strong one.

On Wednesday, Dec. 24, the major U.S. indexes finished higher:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: +288.75 points (+0.6%) to 48,731.16
S&P 500: +0.3% to 6,932.05
Nasdaq Composite: +0.2% to 23,613.31 ^[8]

Reuters described the move as a broad rally that pushed both the Dow and S&P 500 to record closing highs, extending a winning streak and keeping the market’s late-year momentum intact. ^[9]

The hidden detail behind the record: extremely thin volume

Holiday sessions can be deceptively smooth: it doesn’t take much buying to lift prices when participation is low.

Reuters pegged total U.S. exchange volume at about 7.61 billion shares, versus a 20-day full-session average near 16.21 billion—a giant liquidity gap that helps explain why markets can drift upward while “feeling” unusually quiet. ^[10]

That thin-volume dynamic is one reason investors often treat post-holiday action carefully: the first full session after Christmas can bring a more realistic stress test of whether demand is deep—or just seasonally sparse.

Why the Dow rallied: AI buzz, rate-cut expectations, and a resilient-data narrative

So what’s powering the Dow’s year-end mood?

Across major coverage today, three forces keep recurring:

1) A rebound in AI-related sentiment

Reuters reported that U.S. indexes have been climbing in recent days, helped in part by a rebound in AI-linked names following a selloff driven by valuation worries and concerns about heavy capital spending. ^[11]

Even though the Dow is a 30-stock index with a different mix than the Nasdaq, the “AI trade” often bleeds into broader risk appetite—pulling up everything from industrials to financials when investors feel confident.

2) The market is still pricing in 2026 Fed easing—just not immediately

Reuters also noted that markets are pricing roughly 50 basis points of Federal Reserve rate cuts next year, while expectations for a January cut look low. ^[12]

That’s a classic late-cycle cocktail: investors hear “stable economy + eventual easing” and interpret it as supportive for equities—especially big, liquid benchmarks like the Dow.

3) Economic data hasn’t broken the soft-landing story

AP highlighted a still-resilient growth backdrop, including a report showing U.S. GDP growing at a 4.3% annual rate in Q3, alongside a labor picture that is slowing but not collapsing. ^[13]

On jobs, AP reported weekly initial jobless claims fell to 214,000 (week ending Dec. 20), coming in below what analysts were looking for—another “economy still standing” data point that tends to calm markets. ^[14]

The Dow’s biggest stock headline today: Nike jumps after Tim Cook buys shares

On a day when markets are closed and there’s no fresh tape, the news cycle naturally zooms in on the most “Dow-relevant” corporate catalyst that helped move the index into the holiday.

That catalyst was Nike (NKE)—a Dow component and one of the index’s notable laggards in 2025.

Reuters reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook, a longtime Nike board member, bought about $3 million worth of Nike shares—an unusually clear confidence signal from a high-profile insider tied to a Dow name. Nike shares finished the session up about 4.6%, according to Reuters. ^[15]

Reuters also noted Nike had been under pressure—down sharply since its Dec. 18 results and tracking toward a fourth straight year of declines—making the insider purchase stand out even more in the “Dow Jones today” storyline. ^[16]

How much did Nike matter to the Dow?

In a price-weighted index like the DJIA, a handful of high-priced movers can have an outsized impact.

MarketWatch’s data feed reported that, in Wednesday’s rally, Nike and Merck were among the key drivers early in the session, with their gains together contributing a meaningful chunk of points to the Dow’s move. ^[17]

Is the “Santa Claus rally” really here—and what does that mean for the Dow?

With the Dow and S&P 500 closing at records heading into Christmas, the market narrative is sliding neatly into a familiar seasonal frame: the Santa Claus rally.

Reuters described the Santa Claus rally as the stretch covering the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, noting that this seasonal window effectively began with the Christmas Eve session and runs into early January. ^[18]

That matters for Dow watchers because year-end seasonality often influences:

institutional “window dressing” (tidying portfolios before statements go out)
tax management and rebalancing flows
liquidity-driven volatility spikes (small orders, bigger moves)

The Dec. 26 wrinkle: historically strong, but not destiny

One of the more widely circulated stats in today’s coverage: MarketWatch cited Bespoke Investment Group data suggesting December 26 has historically been the most consistently positive trading day of the year for the S&P 500, though it also stressed that seasonality isn’t a guarantee. ^[19]

Even though that statistic is S&P-focused, the psychological effect is broader: it can shape expectations for Friday’s reopening and keep the bullish narrative intact—until price action proves otherwise.

Global markets on Dec. 25: Asia mixed as the U.S. takes the day off

Because the U.S. is closed, global markets are doing what they often do on Christmas: trading lightly, with mixed direction and selective participation.

AP reported mixed Asian markets in thin holiday trade, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 modestly higher and Chinese mainland shares firmer after signals from China’s central bank about maintaining adequate liquidity. ^[20]

This matters for Dow Jones sentiment in a subtle way: when Wall Street is shut, investors watch overseas trading (and futures reopening windows) for clues about risk appetite before the next U.S. cash session.

What to watch next for the Dow Jones index when markets reopen Friday

With no Dow trading today, the real question is what happens when markets reopen on Friday, Dec. 26—and whether the post-holiday tape confirms the record-high mood or punctures it.

Here are the themes most likely to steer the Dow’s next move:

Liquidity (again) — thin markets can exaggerate everything

AP warned volumes could remain light through the week as many investors have already closed out year-end positions. ^[21]

Thin liquidity can make the Dow look “confident” or “fragile” depending on which side shows up first—buyers chasing momentum or sellers taking profits.

The calendar is quiet—but that can shift focus to positioning

Charles Schwab’s market calendar noted no major U.S. earnings or data expected on Dec. 26, meaning market moves may be driven more by flows, rebalancing, and narrative than by a single economic release. ^[22]

The Fed narrative: how long can “cuts next year” stay supportive?

Markets have been leaning on the idea that rates may ease further in 2026, even if the next immediate policy move is a hold. ^[23]

If bonds stay calm and inflation doesn’t re-accelerate, that story can keep risk appetite buoyant. If yields jump or inflation surprises, the same “rate cut” narrative can quickly unwind.

Dow leadership: do financials and healthcare keep carrying?

Reuters noted financials were among the better-performing sectors during the Christmas Eve rally, while energy lagged. ^[24]

For the Dow specifically, leadership often rotates among mega-financials, defensives, and healthcare—so investors will be watching whether names like JPMorgan and Merck continue to provide steady point support, or whether the baton passes elsewhere. ^[25]

The Dow in 2025: a strong year, capped by a holiday record

Zooming out, the Dow’s Christmas Eve record close is also a punctuation mark on a solid year.

AP’s year-to-date figures show the Dow up 14.5% in 2025 through the Dec. 24 session, with the week also finishing higher. ^[26]

In other words: even with a closed market on Dec. 25, the Dow Jones “today” story isn’t about inactivity—it’s about where the index is parked (at a record), and whether Friday delivers follow-through or second thoughts.

Bottom line: The Dow Jones Industrial Average enters the Christmas Day shutdown at an all-time closing high, with “Santa rally” optimism in the air, Nike’s insider-buying headline giving the index a recognizable corporate hook, and Friday’s reopening poised to test how real the holiday calm actually is. ^[27]