Thanksgiving 2025 Stock Market Hours: Holiday Rally Meets AI Bubble Jitters

U.S. markets are closed for Thanksgiving, reopen for a shortened Black Friday session, and head into December with a powerful tech-led rally overshadowed by growing fears of an AI bubble and uncertain Fed policy.

Key points

U.S. stock and bond markets are closed today, Thursday, November 27, 2025, for Thanksgiving and will reopen on Black Friday for a half-day session. ^[1]
The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq just logged a fourth straight day of gains on Wednesday, putting them on track for one of their strongest Thanksgiving weeks in more than a decade. ^[2]
AI-heavy tech giants are driving the rebound, even as analysts and high-profile investors warn that the AI trade is starting to look like a bubble. ^[3]
Nvidia is at the center of the debate, defending its multi‑trillion‑dollar valuation in a memo to Wall Street as competition from Alphabet’s AI chips intensifies. ^[4]
Apple is set to overtake Samsung as the world’s top smartphone seller for the first time in about 14 years, adding another twist to a tech sector already in flux. ^[5]

Is the stock market open on Thanksgiving 2025?

If you’re checking quotes today and seeing nothing move, that’s not your internet connection — it’s the calendar.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq are fully closed today, Thursday, November 27, 2025, for Thanksgiving.
U.S. bond markets are also shut for the holiday. ^[6]

This Thanksgiving shutdown is part of the standard U.S. market holiday schedule. Financial outlets and exchange calendars all show no regular equity or options trading today, and no bond trading either. ^[7]

Government offices, banks and the U.S. Postal Service are also closed or offering only limited services in most states, reinforcing the typical Thanksgiving freeze across the financial system. ^[8]

What time does the market close on Black Friday 2025?

The calm doesn’t last long. On Friday, November 28 (Black Friday), U.S. markets reopen — but only for a half day.

Current schedules show:

NYSE & Nasdaq
- Open: 9:30 a.m. ET (regular time)
- Close: 1:00 p.m. ET
U.S. bond market
- Close: 2:00 p.m. ET

Financial sites from MarketWatch to Investopedia, as well as exchange timetables, all line up on those shortened hours for Black Friday 2025. ^[9]

After that, markets resume standard hours next week as Wall Street shifts from turkey to the year‑end “Santa rally” narrative — and to fresh scrutiny of sky‑high tech valuations.

Wall Street rallies into Thanksgiving after a bruising November

Today’s closure comes right after a surprisingly strong four‑day winning streak for U.S. stocks.

On Wednesday, November 26:

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each gained roughly 0.7%.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed around 0.8%. ^[10]
That marked the fourth consecutive advance, giving major indexes their best Thanksgiving‑week performance in years and their best four‑day stretch since May, according to multiple market recaps. ^[11]

The rally is doing damage control after a choppy November:

The Nasdaq is still down for the month, while the S&P 500 has only just inched back toward flat. ^[12]
Strategists describe the move as a “powerful comeback” fueled by renewed bets on a December Fed rate cut and a rebound in AI‑related megacap stocks such as Alphabet and Broadcom. ^[13]

With U.S. trading paused today, global markets have picked up the baton, rising on the back of Wall Street’s gains and growing hopes that the Federal Reserve will start trimming rates in the coming months. ^[14]

In short:
The holiday arrives with markets feeling better than they did a week ago — but far from relaxed.

Why everyone is suddenly talking about an AI bubble

Beneath the holiday cheer, concern over an “AI bubble” has become one of the dominant themes in markets this month.

A technology column from The Hill — widely circulated today via international syndication — describes “sharp swings in financial markets” as questions about a potential artificial intelligence bubble collide with uncertainty over the Fed’s next move on interest rates. ^[15]

A few key threads are feeding the anxiety:

Explosive AI spending and trillion‑dollar valuations
- Chipmaker Nvidia has grown into the world’s most valuable company, with revenue expected to jump more than 50% year‑over‑year in its latest quarter — still a slowdown from the triple‑digit growth it posted earlier in the boom. ^[16]
- “Hyperscaler” giants like Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle are projected to pour roughly $441 billion into data centers and AI infrastructure this year, almost triple 2023 levels. ^[17]
Big names warning of a potential bust
- Veteran emerging‑markets investor Mark Mobius has said the AI frenzy could ultimately trigger a 40% drop in stocks, pointing to “frothy valuations” and massive capex plans that may not quickly pay off. ^[18]
- Other strategists warn of scenarios ranging from a benign “AI‑powered growth” path to a full‑blown correction if inflation reaccelerates or the Fed is forced to reverse course on rate cuts. ^[19]
Nervous options markets and a flight to safety
- Derivatives desks report a surge in rate‑options hedging, as investors try to protect themselves against uncertainty around the Fed’s path and the durability of AI‑driven gains. ^[20]
- Treasury yields have edged lower again, with demand for safe‑haven U.S. debt picking up as AI worries and mixed economic data collide. ^[21]

Put together, it’s a classic late‑cycle mood:
Investors want the upside of a technological revolution — but they’re increasingly aware that revolutions often come with bubbles attached.

Nvidia’s memo, Google’s chips and the battle for AI’s core

No company sits more squarely in the crosshairs of this debate than Nvidia.

A defensive memo to Wall Street

In a memo circulated to analysts and later reported by Reuters today, Nvidia pushed back hard against skeptics questioning its roughly $4.5 trillion market value (down from a $5 trillion peak). ^[22]

According to that reporting, the memo:

Rejects claims that Nvidia is quietly stockpiling unsold chips or facing a wave of delinquent customers, dismissing some AI‑scraped “forensic” analyses as misleading.
Acknowledges higher warranty costs and slimmer margins on its latest Blackwell chips, which are more complex and expensive to produce.
Dismisses comparisons to past corporate blowups like Enron and WorldCom as unfounded. ^[23]

The document landed after a turbulent month in which:

Nvidia’s stock fell roughly 11%, even though its quarterly earnings once again beat expectations. ^[24]
Major shareholders including SoftBank trimmed positions, officially citing portfolio rebalancing but stoking chatter that big money is quietly de‑risking the AI trade. ^[25]

The Google–Meta chip shock

At the same time, competition for AI compute is heating up:

Reports that Meta may purchase billions of dollars’ worth of Alphabet’s custom AI chips have raised the prospect that Google could chip away at Nvidia’s dominance in large‑scale AI data centers. ^[26]
As this news broke, Alphabet’s shares jumped, while Nvidia’s initially slumped before stabilizing on the back of its strong guidance. ^[27]

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang continues to argue that we’re at an “AI tipping point,” not a bubble, pointing to still‑booming demand and the company’s central role in AI software, networking and systems. Yet even he acknowledges that a handful of hyperscale customers accounts for the majority of Nvidia’s revenue — a concentration risk that makes markets nervous. ^[28]

For investors, the message is mixed:

The business results are stunning.
The expectations baked into today’s prices may be even more stunning.

Apple overtakes Samsung: another reshuffle at the top of tech

While AI steals most of the headlines, smartphones quietly delivered a major market‑share upset this week.

Research firm Counterpoint now expects Apple’s 2025 smartphone shipments to surpass Samsung’s for the first time in about 14 years, giving the iPhone maker roughly 19.4% global market share versus Samsung’s projected 18.7%. ^[29]

Media reports say the shift is being driven by: ^[30]

Strong demand for the iPhone 17 lineup.
A wave of upgrades from users who bought phones during the COVID‑era boom and are now aging out of their devices.
A thriving second‑hand iPhone market — hundreds of millions of refurbished units sold since 2023 — creating a pipeline of future upgraders.

CNBC’s Daily Open newsletter highlighted the Apple‑Samsung crossover as one of the standout stories of the pre‑Thanksgiving session, noting that major U.S. indexes’ four‑day surge coincided with Apple’s strengthening position in consumer hardware. ^[31]

For the broader market, Apple’s ascent matters because:

The company is a core holding in virtually every major U.S. equity index and ETF.
Its shift toward on‑device AI, custom silicon and services ties it directly into the same AI capex wave driving Nvidia, Alphabet and Microsoft — but with a more consumer‑facing revenue base.

Fed uncertainty: the other half of the volatility story

AI isn’t the only thing rattling investors. The Federal Reserve’s next move looms large over everything happening this holiday week.

Recent Fed commentary and the latest Beige Book survey suggest: ^[32]

Overall economic activity is essentially flat heading into year‑end.
The labor market is cooling, with hiring slowing or edging lower in several regions.
Consumer spending has softened, particularly among lower‑ and middle‑income households, even as wealthier consumers keep spending.

At the same time, inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, leaving policymakers torn between cutting rates to support growth and keeping them higher to stamp out lingering price pressures. ^[33]

This ambiguity is one reason volatility has spiked:

When markets decide the Fed is on track to cut in December, tech and small caps rip higher.
When a speech or data point suggests the Fed might wait, those same trades unwind quickly, and the AI bubble debate flares up again. ^[34]

The Hill’s AI‑bubble piece captures this tug‑of‑war, noting that recent “whipsaw” moves in stocks reflect not just AI angst but also investors scrambling to position around an unusually uncertain rate path. ^[35]

What to watch on Black Friday and into December

With markets closed today, the immediate question becomes what tomorrow and December look like.

1. Thin liquidity and headline risk

Black Friday’s shortened session typically sees lower trading volume, which can exaggerate moves in either direction:

AI‑linked names like Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle could swing sharply on any fresh headlines around regulation, capex plans or big customer wins. ^[36]
Retail stocks will be sensitive to early holiday‑shopping data, even if many of the biggest insights won’t arrive until Cyber Monday and December. ^[37]

2. AI and jobs

One of the more eye‑catching data points in CNBC’s Daily Open summary: an MIT study estimating that AI could automate the equivalent of roughly 11.7% of U.S. jobs, at least in terms of tasks. ^[38]

That kind of statistic:

Fuels enthusiasm about potential productivity gains.
Stokes fears about job losses, regulatory crackdowns and social pushback — all of which could reshape the trajectory of the AI trade in 2026 and beyond.

3. Crypto and alternative risk trades

The same newsletter flagged expectations from research firm Compass Point that Bitcoin may remain under pressure for the rest of the year, as tighter financial conditions and shifting risk appetite weigh on speculative assets. ^[39]

For equity investors, that’s another reason to think carefully about how much of their portfolio is tied to “high‑beta” AI and growth stories versus more stable, cash‑generating businesses.

Takeaways for investors (and anyone watching from the sidelines)

None of this is personalized financial advice, but a few big themes stand out as Thanksgiving 2025 unfolds:

Know the calendar.
- You can’t trade U.S. stocks or most bonds today — and tomorrow’s half‑day session can be whippy, so prices may not fully reflect fundamental news until next week. ^[40]
AI remains both the engine and the risk.
- The same AI spending boom powering Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and others is what has strategists talking about bubbles, not just booms. ^[41]
Fed uncertainty hasn’t gone away.
- A December rate cut is heavily priced in — but not guaranteed. Any surprise from the Fed could hit the most richly valued parts of the market first, including AI leaders. ^[42]
Concentration risk is real.
- Between Nvidia’s dependence on a few hyperscale customers and the outsized weight of the “AI elite” in major indexes, a lot of performance now rides on a surprisingly small group of companies. ^[43]

As families gather around the table today, Wall Street’s big question is simple:
Is this year’s AI‑driven rally the start of a new multi‑year expansion — or the exuberant final act before a painful reset?

We won’t get the answer today; the markets are closed. But Friday’s shortened session — and the data‑heavy weeks that follow — will start to tell us how long this uneasy truce between holiday cheer and bubble fear can last.

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