NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 12:28 ET — Market closed.
- The S&P 500 last closed down 0.74% at 6,845.50 on the final trading day of 2025.
- MSCI’s global stock index slipped 0.53% to 1,014.79 as 2025 wrapped up.
- India’s Nifty 50 edged up 0.06% in the first 2026 session as auto gains offset a tobacco selloff after a new cigarette tax.
Global stock markets were muted on Thursday, with U.S. exchanges closed for New Year’s Day, after a late-December pullback left major indexes just below record territory.
The pause matters because investors are starting 2026 with equities priced for continued strength after a year dominated by tariff headlines and an artificial intelligence-led surge in megacap technology. “It’s frankly hard to find an asset class that did poorly outside of the U.S. dollar,” said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon in Charlotte, North Carolina. Reuters
With fewer markets open and lighter volumes, price moves can become more abrupt when new information hits — especially as investors refocus on the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook and economic data after a prolonged disruption from the U.S. government shutdown.
In the last U.S. session of 2025, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.63% to 48,063.29, the S&P 500 slid 0.74% to 6,845.50, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.76% to 23,241.99.
Across regions, MSCI’s gauge of global shares dipped 0.53% to 1,014.79. Europe’s STOXX 600 eased 0.1%, while MSCI’s emerging-market index rose 0.17% and Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.05%; Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.37%.
India, one of the major markets open on New Year’s Day, ended little changed: the Nifty 50 rose 0.06% and the Sensex slipped 0.04%.
In Mumbai, auto stocks climbed after December dealer sales rose from a year earlier, helped by tax cuts, while cigarette makers tumbled after the government announced an excise duty — a levy on goods — on cigarettes effective in February.
On Wall Street, idiosyncratic headlines still moved shares: Nike gained after CEO Elliott Hill disclosed he bought about $1 million of stock, while Vanda Pharmaceuticals jumped after the FDA approved its motion-sickness drug.
The broader 2025 story remained the AI trade. Reuters reported Nvidia, up 39% on the year, became the first publicly traded company to reach a $5 trillion market value, while Alphabet’s 65% jump helped make communication services the S&P 500’s top sector.
Some investors are positioning for the rally to broaden beyond the biggest tech names. Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Jitania Kandhari said she expects the shift toward wider participation to deepen in 2026, noting the equal-weighted S&P 500 — which gives each stock the same influence — looks stronger than the standard version dominated by the largest companies.
In rates, Treasury yields rose after a labor market report showed an unexpected dip in applications for unemployment benefits; the 10-year yield ended around 4.163%. The two-year yield, which tends to track expectations for Fed policy, finished near 3.475%.
In currencies, the dollar index was little changed at 98.25, with the euro around $1.1748 and the dollar at 156.65 yen. Bitcoin fell to about $87,581, while ether ticked higher to roughly $2,972.
Commodities reflected a different tone: U.S. crude settled at $57.42 a barrel and Brent at $60.85, as oversupply concerns outweighed geopolitical risks. Spot gold slipped to $4,312 an ounce and silver dropped to $71, as investors locked in gains after a strong year.
Before the next session, U.S. trading resumes on Friday, Jan. 2, after the New Year’s Day closure. Investors will quickly test whether stocks can regain momentum after the year-end slide that interrupted the typical early-January seasonal lift.
The next macro catalysts are close behind. The Labor Department’s calendar shows the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) due on Jan. 7 and the December employment report due on Jan. 9 — data that can shift rate-cut expectations and, by extension, equity valuations.
For now, traders say the key swing factors remain the Fed’s path, the risk of renewed tariff-driven volatility, and whether global markets can sustain a rotation into non-U.S. shares that outperformed in parts of 2025. The S&P 500’s 6,845 close leaves it within sight of record highs, putting the near-term focus on whether buyers step back in when liquidity normalizes.
