Wall Street is taking the day off.
The U.S. stock market is closed today, Thursday, December 25, 2025, for the Christmas Day holiday, pausing trading after a holiday-shortened Christmas Eve session that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 to new all-time closing highs. [1]
With no regular-session trading in stocks today, the “U.S. stock market today” story is really about three things: where the major indexes left off, what headlines are likely to matter when trading resumes, and why the year-end “Santa rally” narrative is suddenly back in the driver’s seat.
Is the U.S. stock market open today?
No. NYSE and Nasdaq are closed on December 25 for Christmas Day, per the official exchange calendar. [2]
Markets closed early on Wednesday, Dec. 24, and are scheduled to reopen Friday, Dec. 26, for a full trading day—but traders are bracing for the usual post-holiday cocktail of thin liquidity and outsized moves on small flows. [3]
Where stocks left off: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq end Christmas Eve at record closes
In Wednesday’s shortened session (the last chance to trade U.S. stocks before the holiday), the market drifted higher to cap a multi-day climb:
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 48,731.16 (+0.60%)
- S&P 500: 6,932.05 (+0.32%)
- Nasdaq Composite: 23,613.31 (+0.22%) [4]
It wasn’t a “rip-your-face-off rally.” It was more like a carefully wrapped year-end bow—with all three major indexes posting their fifth straight session of gains, and trading volume reflecting how many professionals had already stepped away from their desks. [5]
Just how light was it? U.S. exchange volume was 7.61 billion shares, versus a 20-day average of 16.21 billion, according to Reuters. [6]
What powered the pre-holiday push?
Even in a quiet session, the market’s “why” matters—especially heading into the final stretch of the year.
1) AI-linked stocks stabilized after a valuation scare.
Reuters noted that indexes had been climbing partly on a rebound in AI-related names after a recent selloff tied to concerns about high valuations and heavy capital expenditures. [7]
2) Fresh economic data didn’t break the “soft landing” story.
A mix of resilient growth data and a still-healthy labor backdrop helped keep risk appetite intact. The AP reported that U.S. GDP grew at a 4.3% annual rate in Q3, and that weekly jobless claims fell to 214,000 for the week ending Dec. 20. [8]
3) Rate-cut expectations: investors see easing in 2026, but not immediately.
The market is still pricing roughly 50 basis points of Fed rate cuts in 2026, while expectations for a January cut remain low, per Reuters (citing CME’s FedWatch tool). [9]
The result: a calm, upward drift into the holiday—less about adrenaline and more about positioning.
Top U.S. stock market news driving attention on Dec. 25, 2025
Even with the cash equity market closed today, company headlines keep printing—and they shape what traders may chase (or fade) when liquidity returns.
Nvidia and Groq: a talent-and-tech deal aimed at AI inference
One of the biggest tech headlines landing in the holiday window: Nvidia struck a non-exclusive licensing agreement with AI chip startup Groq and will hire away key Groq executives, including founder Jonathan Ross and President Sunny Madra, Reuters reported. [10]
Key details that matter for stock investors:
- The structure follows a pattern of large tech firms paying for technology access + executive talent without a full acquisition. [11]
- Groq focuses on AI inference (running trained models in real time), a segment where Nvidia faces more competition than in training. [12]
- Groq said it will continue operating independently, and its cloud business will keep running—while the “acquisition” rumor mill (including a reported $20B figure from CNBC, per Reuters) remains unconfirmed by the companies. [13]
- Groq’s own newsroom described the arrangement as a non-exclusive inference technology licensing agreement (not an outright buyout). [14]
For the U.S. stock market narrative, this slots neatly into the 2025 mega-theme: AI is still the gravitational center—but the battleground is shifting from “who can train the biggest model” to “who can run inference fastest, cheapest, and at scale.”
Sanofi to acquire Dynavax: a sharp single-stock jolt amid a calm tape
Healthcare M&A also delivered a notable mover. Dynavax surged 38.2% after Sanofi agreed to buy the U.S. vaccine company for about $2.2 billion, Reuters reported. [15]
In the separate Reuters deal report, Sanofi said it will pay $15.50 per share (a 39% premium to Dynavax’s prior close), expects to close in Q1 2026, and will fund it with cash. Dynavax brings Sanofi its adult hepatitis B vaccine Heplisav‑B and an experimental shingles vaccine candidate. [16]
Micron hits a closing record as AI hardware demand stays in focus
In semiconductors, Micron rose 3.8% to a record close of $286.68, continuing a rally after issuing a strong forecast, Reuters reported. [17]
That matters for the broader tape because memory pricing and AI infrastructure buildouts have been a key “tell” for whether Big Tech’s spending is translating into real revenue pools for the supply chain.
Nike pops; Intel slips on manufacturing chatter
A couple more single-name moves from the Christmas Eve session underscore how headline-driven late-December trading can be:
- Nike jumped 4.6% after Apple CEO Tim Cook (Nike’s lead independent director) bought about $3 million worth of shares, Reuters reported. [18]
- Intel fell 0.5% after a report that Nvidia halted tests to manufacture chips using Intel’s 18A process, according to Reuters. [19]
The Santa rally is here. Now what?
The “Santa rally” is one of those market-seasonality ideas that traders simultaneously mock and monitor—because enough people believe in it that it can become self-fulfilling in thin conditions.
Reuters cited the Stock Trader’s Almanac definition: the Santa rally covers the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of January. Reuters added that this window began Wednesday and runs through January 5. [20]
So what should investors watch when the market reopens on Friday, Dec. 26?
Liquidity and positioning.
This is the part of the calendar where a single big rebalance or options-related flow can “move the room” more than it normally would.
Whether gains broaden beyond mega-cap tech.
One of the core 2026 questions is whether earnings growth spreads to more of the index. Reuters reported that S&P 500 earnings are projected to rise over 15% in 2026, after a 13% increase in 2025, according to LSEG’s earnings research. [21]
Reuters also noted a potential narrowing in the “Magnificent Seven vs. everyone else” gap: expected 2026 earnings growth of 23% for the Mag 7 vs. 13% for the rest of the S&P 500. [22]
Rate-cut expectations and the economy’s “Goldilocks” balance.
Markets want an economy soft enough to keep inflation calm and allow cuts—but not so soft it breaks earnings. Reuters reported fed funds futures imply expectations for at least two quarter-point cuts in 2026. [23]
Bottom line for the U.S. stock market today
Because it’s Christmas Day, “stock market today” is really “stock market paused”—with the scoreboard frozen at record highs and the narrative dominated by:
- a steady pre-holiday climb,
- a still-dovish (but patient) rate-cut outlook, and
- AI headlines that keep arriving even while the bell isn’t ringing. [24]
When trading returns on Dec. 26, the market will have to decide whether the record closes were the start of a clean year-end glide path—or just a low-volume mirage that looks better under holiday lights.
References
1. www.nyse.com, 2. www.nyse.com, 3. www.nyse.com, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.reuters.com, 6. www.reuters.com, 7. www.reuters.com, 8. apnews.com, 9. www.reuters.com, 10. www.reuters.com, 11. www.reuters.com, 12. www.reuters.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. groq.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. www.reuters.com, 18. www.reuters.com, 19. www.reuters.com, 20. www.reuters.com, 21. www.reuters.com, 22. www.reuters.com, 23. www.reuters.com, 24. www.reuters.com
