NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 13:51 ET — Regular session
- U.S. stocks edged lower in early afternoon trade as megacap tech cooled after last week’s run-up.
- DigitalBridge jumped after SoftBank said it would buy the digital infrastructure investor in a $4 billion deal.
- Gold and silver slid from record highs, pressuring miners, while oil’s jump helped energy shares.
U.S. stocks slipped on Monday as investors trimmed exposure to heavyweight technology names that powered last week’s rally.
The move matters because benchmarks entered the final week of the year near record territory and close to the S&P 500’s next big round-number milestone, leaving little cushion for profit-taking.
Trading conditions are also thinner in the holiday-shortened week, when fewer orders can make price swings look bigger than usual.
By about 1:36 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 was down roughly 0.4%, the Nasdaq about 0.5% and the Dow around 0.4%. Small caps lagged, with the Russell 2000 off about 0.6%.
Nvidia fell about 1.5% and Tesla slid more than 2%, while Broadcom and Palantir also traded lower, weighing on the tech-heavy end of the market.
“This is (not) the beginning of the end of the tech dominance, it’ll turn out to be a buying opportunity,” said Hank Smith, director and head of investment strategy at Haverford Trust. Reuters
DigitalBridge Group jumped nearly 10% after SoftBank Group said it would buy the digital infrastructure investor in a deal valued at $4 billion, as the Japanese firm pushes deeper into artificial-intelligence-related assets.
SoftBank’s $16-per-share offer represents a 15% premium to Friday’s close and the deal is expected to close in the second half of next year, the companies said.
A sharp retreat in precious metals also hit the materials corner of the market, dragging miners lower. Spot gold fell 4.2% around midday and silver dropped 8.4% after earlier touching a record $83.62 an ounce, Reuters reported.
Newmont slid about 6% as the fall in bullion prices fed through to gold producers.
Energy shares outperformed as oil rose by more than $1 a barrel on worries about supply disruptions tied to tensions in Yemen and Russia’s comments on peace talks, lifting Brent about 2% and U.S. crude about 2.3% around midday.
Investors are watching for the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes and other late-week data for clues on the 2026 interest-rate path. Some traders are also tracking whether a “Santa Claus rally” — the tendency for stocks to rise in the last five trading days of the year and the first two of January — holds up in the final sessions of 2025. Reuters+1
The S&P 500 has added about 17% in 2025 and was on track for an eighth straight month of gains, underscoring how quickly year-end positioning can flip leadership from one session to the next.
