NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 1:26 PM ET — Regular session
- The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were modestly lower in thin year-end trading, but remained set for a third straight year of gains.
- U.S. jobless claims fell to 199,000, and Treasury yields ticked higher after the data.
- Nike rose after an insider filing showed CEO Elliott Hill bought shares; Vanda jumped after an FDA approval.
U.S. stocks edged lower on Wednesday in thin year-end trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 114.33 points, or 0.24%, to 48,252.73; the S&P 500 lost 16.62 points, or 0.24%, to 6,879.62; and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 51.05 points, or 0.22%, to 23,368.03.
The drift lower on the last trading day of 2025 followed a run to record highs that left the major indexes on track to post double-digit gains for the year. Tech led the declines — with Microsoft and Apple among the biggest weights — and Wall Street was set for a fourth straight session of losses, bucking the “Santa Claus rally” window when stocks often rise into early January; U.S. markets are closed Thursday for New Year’s Day. “I do not expect that the last few days will have so much bearing on the performance of the next year,” said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity. Reuters
Economic data added a fresh crosscurrent for rates markets. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 199,000 for the week ended Dec. 27, well below economists’ expectations, while continuing claims eased to 1.866 million; the Labor Department released the report a day early because of the holiday, and said it would publish December employment figures on Jan. 9.
Treasury yields ticked higher after the report, keeping the spotlight on how quickly borrowing costs may fall next year. Higher yields can pressure growth stocks because their valuations lean more heavily on profits expected further in the future.
Trading desks also pointed to the calendar. With many investors already up sharply for the year, low liquidity — the ease of buying and selling without moving prices much — can exaggerate otherwise modest repositioning.
For now, investors are weighing whether the rally can broaden beyond the largest technology names, even as year-end rebalancing and tax-related trades thin out risk appetite. The Federal Reserve’s next steps are expected to remain the market’s main macro driver as 2026 data flow normalizes.
Nike shares rose after an insider filing showed CEO Elliott Hill bought 16,388 shares in an open-market purchase at a weighted average price of $61.10 each, with trades reported in a narrow range around that level.
Vanda Pharmaceuticals jumped after the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug Nereus (tradipitant) to prevent motion-induced vomiting, the first newly approved treatment for the condition in more than 40 years. H.C. Wainwright analyst Raghuram Selvaraju estimated peak annual U.S. sales for the indication could exceed $100 million.
Outside equities, investors also monitored a pullback in precious metals and a softer tone in crude oil, while cryptocurrencies eased as the year’s final session wound down. Those moves underscored how many traders are ending 2025 by trimming risk rather than adding it.
What comes next is largely a function of the calendar. When markets reopen Friday, attention is expected to shift quickly to early-January economic updates and the oncoming earnings season for clues on growth, pricing power and the Fed’s room to ease further.
