NEW YORK, December 28, 2025, 18:37 ET — Market closed
- Microsoft shares last traded at $487.71, little changed from the prior close.
- Investors are looking to next week’s Federal Reserve minutes and year-end portfolio shifts after a thin post-holiday session. [1]
- Microsoft is expected to report quarterly results on Jan. 28, with cloud growth and AI spending in focus. [2]
Microsoft Corp shares were little changed at the end of the holiday-shortened week, with U.S. markets closed on Sunday and investors turning attention to the final three trading days of 2025.
The software maker’s stock last traded at $487.71, down 0.04% from the prior close, giving it a market value of about $3.85 trillion.
Why this matters now is less about company headlines and more about positioning. Trading volumes tend to thin out into year-end, and small shifts in sentiment can swing the biggest index weights.
Technology shares have been sensitive this month to worries about how much money Big Tech is spending to build out artificial-intelligence infrastructure, even as broader equities sit near record levels. [3]
On Friday, U.S. stocks finished nearly flat in a light-volume post-Christmas session, with the Dow down 0.04%, the S&P 500 off 0.03% and the Nasdaq lower by 0.09%, according to Reuters. [4]
“We’re just simply catching our breath today after the holiday,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group. [5]
Detrick pointed to the “Santa Claus rally,” a seasonal stretch covering the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the next, that investors watch for clues on risk appetite. [6]
Moves among megacap peers were muted into the close of the week, with Apple and Alphabet also fractionally lower, while Nvidia gained on company-specific news, underscoring the selective tone in big tech. [7]
The next macro test comes quickly. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting — the detailed record of the discussion — are due Tuesday and could shape expectations for rate cuts in 2026. [8]
The Fed has cut rates by 75 basis points, or three-quarters of a percentage point, over its last three meetings of 2025, bringing the benchmark range to 3.50%–3.75%, Reuters reported. [9]
Investors are also watching for signs of rotation away from tech into sectors with more moderate valuations, a trend that has surfaced as non-tech areas have outperformed over recent weeks, according to Reuters. [10]
Before Monday’s open, traders will be tracking whether thin volumes amplify year-end rebalancing flows — a dynamic that can exaggerate moves in heavily owned stocks such as Microsoft. [11]
The S&P 500 was about 1% from the 7,000 mark in late-week trade and was on track for its eighth straight monthly gain, Reuters reported, leaving little room for negative surprises in the final sessions. [12]
For Microsoft, the next company catalyst is earnings. The company is expected to report on Jan. 28 after the close, according to Yahoo Finance’s earnings calendar. [13]
Investors will be watching for updates on Azure cloud demand, the pace of spending on AI-related data centers, and whether management signals any change in the balance between growth and margins.
Microsoft enters the final stretch of 2025 sitting just below the $500 level, with sentiment set to be driven by the rate outlook, year-end positioning and the next wave of results from the largest tech companies.
References
1. www.reuters.com, 2. finance.yahoo.com, 3. www.reuters.com, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. www.reuters.com, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. www.reuters.com, 11. www.reuters.com, 12. www.reuters.com, 13. finance.yahoo.com
