Opening Comment — Friday, December 26, 2025
DJIA: 48,731.16, up 288.75
S&P 500: 6,932.05, up 22.26
NASDAQ: 23,613.31, up 51.47
Stocks lower to end out week
Stock futures are mostly lower Friday morning following the holiday and ahead of next week’s economic releases, including the finalized December manufacturing purchasing managers’ index from S&P Global and the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) latest meeting minutes. As of 7:16 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.2%, while the S&P 500 is down 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 is little changed relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were higher on Wednesday during a shortened trading session as initial jobless claims declined while continuing claims for the week prior increased. The Dow was up 0.6% and reached a new record closing level of 48731.16, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%. The S&P 500 increased 0.3% and set a new record closing level of 6932.05, with 10 of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Consumer Staples sector was the top performer, rising 0.8%, while the Energy sector was the bottom performer, falling 0.3%.
Technical Analysis
None at this time.
Across the pond, European markets are closed for Boxing Day.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed as Japan’s headline and core Tokyo Consumer Price Index cooled to 2.0% and 2.3% year-over-year (YOY), respectively. Meanwhile, the country’s jobless rate and job-to-applicant ratio for November remained steady at 2.6% and 1.18, respectively. Japan’s retail sales rose by 0.6% month-over-month and 1.0% YOY in November and preliminary industrial production data showed a greater decline than expected.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is little changed as investors await the release of next week’s FOMC meeting minutes.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.2% lower at $58.26/barrel.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.6% higher at $4,505.48/ounce.