NEW YORK, December 28, 2025, 21:37 ET — Market closed
- Merck ended Friday up 0.3% at $106.78, a touch below its 52-week high.
- Wall Street was little changed in thin, post-holiday trading, with investors looking to Fed minutes this week.
- Merck’s next scheduled catalyst is its Feb. 3 fourth-quarter earnings call.
Merck & Co shares finished the last U.S. session up 0.3% at $106.78, closing just below a 52-week high after a quiet, post-Christmas session left the broader market marginally lower.
The move matters for investors because late-December flows can push big, liquid drugmakers around even without fresh company news, as portfolios rebalance into year-end and trading volumes stay light.
Attention is also shifting to interest-rate expectations, which can influence valuations for defensive, dividend-paying stocks such as large pharmaceuticals. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting are due Tuesday.
Data from Yahoo Finance showed Merck traded between $106.03 and $107.05 on Friday, with the high marking a new 52-week peak.
U.S. stocks ended slightly lower in the same session, with the Dow down 0.04%, the S&P 500 off 0.03% and the Nasdaq down 0.09%, Reuters reported.
“We’re just simply catching our breath today after the holiday,” Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, told Reuters. Reuters
Detrick pointed to the “Santa Claus rally” window — the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the next — a period investors watch for signs of momentum into January. Reuters
A Reuters “Week Ahead” column published on Sunday said investors have been watching rotation into non-tech sectors, including healthcare, as the year winds down. Reuters
Merck has remained in focus this month after the company said it reached an agreement with the Trump administration aimed at expanding access and lowering costs for some medicines, including through a direct-to-patient program for certain diabetes treatments.
Separately, Reuters reported on Dec. 19 that the FDA granted national priority vouchers to Merck’s cholesterol pill enlicitide and a cancer therapy, adding them to a fast-track program.
The voucher program can shorten FDA review times to about one to two months from the usual 10 to 12 months, Reuters said.
Reuters said Merck’s enlicitide works by blocking PCSK9, a protein involved in regulating cholesterol, and is aimed at competing with injectable PCSK9 drugs such as Amgen’s Repatha.
Investors continue to weigh Merck’s longer-term growth plans as it prepares for the eventual loss of exclusivity for its blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Keytruda later this decade, a key focus in the stock’s valuation.
Before the next session, traders will look to Tuesday’s Fed minutes for clues on the path of rates after the central bank’s December meeting, Reuters said — a potential catalyst in a market where light liquidity can exaggerate moves.
Year-end portfolio adjustments and sector rotation will remain in focus through the final trading days of 2025, particularly after Wall Street’s strong December run.
For Merck specifically, the next scheduled company event on its calendar is the fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call on Feb. 3, the company’s investor relations site showed.
Technically, Merck ended Friday about a quarter of a percent below its 52-week high of $107.05, leaving investors watching whether the stock can break above that level when regular trading resumes Monday.
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