NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 13:26 ET — Regular session
- Linde shares rose about 0.3% as broader U.S. equities slipped.
- Year-end trading volumes stayed light ahead of the New Year’s holiday market closure.
- Investors are watching Fed minutes, jobless claims and Linde’s next earnings update.
Linde shares rose 0.3% to $426.07 in early afternoon trading on Monday, after moving between $423.65 and $427.29 in the session.
The industrial gases maker held up even as U.S. stocks dipped from record highs in thin, holiday-shortened trading — a setup that can exaggerate moves in individual names.
“It’s a very light trading week ahead; volume is low,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York. He pointed to tax-loss harvesting — selling losing positions to offset capital-gains taxes — as one factor that can distort late-year flows. Reuters
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust was down about 0.5%, with heavyweight technology and AI-linked shares leading the broader pullback, Reuters reported. Investors are also looking to minutes from the Federal Reserve’s prior meeting and weekly jobless claims later this week, with U.S. markets shut on Thursday for New Year’s Day.
Linde, the world’s largest industrial gases company, supplies oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen to customers ranging from factories to hospitals, leaving the stock sensitive to shifts in industrial demand but often steadied by long-term supply contracts.
Peer Air Products & Chemicals edged higher as well, while the broader market stayed in the red.
The company’s investor website lists its most recent corporate update as its third-quarter results released on Oct. 31, leaving few fresh company-specific catalysts for the stock in Monday’s trade.
In that quarterly update, Linde forecast fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share — a profit measure that strips out some one-off items — of $4.10 to $4.20, citing weaker volumes in Europe. It reaffirmed a full-year outlook for 5% to 6% growth in adjusted EPS, Reuters reported.
Investors are now focused on whether European volumes stabilize and how pricing and new project wins feed into 2026 guidance when Linde reports next.
Nasdaq’s earnings calendar estimates Linde will report again on Feb. 5.
