Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market ended the holiday week in muted fashion, though modest early gains saw the S&P 500 (flat) notch an all-time high of 6,945.77. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) and DJIA (flat) also stayed within close proximity of their flatlines today, though all three indices captured solid gains this week of 1.2% or wider. 

Leadership was relatively thin today, though a gain in the top-weighted information technology sector (+0.2%) helped weigh against the broader market weakness. 

NVIDIA (NVDA 190.53, +1.92, +1.02%) was a mega-cap standout, moving higher after reports it struck a roughly $20 billion Christmas Eve deal with AI inference startup Groq that centers on a non-exclusive licensing arrangement and the acquisition of Groq’s founder, president, and key engineering talent.

Meanwhile, the materials sector (+0.6%) captured the widest gain as precious metals continued to rally. Gold and silver both set all-time highs, which sent prominent mining names Freeport-McMoRan (FCX 53.04, +1.12, +2.16%) and Newmont Corporation (NEM 105.78, +1.05, +1.00%) to fresh 52-week highs. 

The real estate (+0.1%) and health care (+0.1%) sectors eked out slight gains as the broader market saw a modest upswing in the last half hour of the session. 

While losses were relatively broad-based across the seven other S&P 500 sectors, they were also modest. 

The consumer discretionary sector (-0.4%) closed with the widest loss. Tesla (TSLA 475.19, -10.21, -2.10%) was a laggard amid a mixed day for the market's largest names that saw the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF finish flat. 

The sector also faced some profit-taking in its cruise line names, such as Royal Caribbean (RCL 285.64, -8.48, -2.88%), Carnival (CCL 30.70, -0.56, -1.78%), and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH 22.83, -0.34, -1.47%). Those stocks have been on a tear recently and still boast stout month-to-date gains after an exceptional earnings report from Carnival. 

Like most sessions this week, corporate news flow was light today. Target (TGT 99.55, +3.02, +3.13%) captured the widest gain across S&P 500 names today following a Financial Times report that Toms Capital Investment Management has built a stake in the company.

Outside of the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (-0.5%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (-0.2%) underperformed, though they still finished the week with modest week-to-date gains. 

All told, today's session was a low-volume sideways drift that was largely expected given the holiday week. The major averages remain near record high levels as the market searches for fresh catalysts heading into the final sessions of 2025. 

U.S. Treasuries finished the Christmas-shortened week on a mixed note, but the Friday session was uneventful, to no one's surprise. The 2-year note yield settled down three basis points to 3.48% (-3 basis points this week), and the 10-year note yield finished unchanged at 4.14% (-1 basis point this week).

There was no economic data of note. 

• Nasdaq Composite: +22.2% YTD
• S&P 500: +17.8% YTD
• DJIA: +14.5% YTD
• Russell 2000: +13.8% YTD
• S&P Mid Cap 400: +8.1% YTD

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (flat), Nasdaq Composite (flat), and DJIA (-0.1%) look to close with solid week-to-date gains, as today's action has them little changed from Wednesday's closing levels. 

Despite the muted action, the major averages sit near session highs as the broader market trend has taken a positive turn over the last few weeks of the year. 

Next week's action will also be abbreviated by the holiday season, as the market will be closed on Thursday, January 1, for the New Year's Day holiday. 

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (flat), Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%), and DJIA (-0.2%) continue to trade in a mixed, muted fashion as the market enters the final hour of the session. 

The energy sector (-0.6%) remains the only S&P 500 sector with a loss wider than 0.5%, trading lower as crude oil settled today's session $1.72 lower (-3.0%) at $56.68 per barrel, ending the week flat. 

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages continue to trade in close proximity to their unchanged values. 

Coupang (CPNG 24.72, +1.92, +8.40%) is rallying today in a relief-type move after the company issued a more detailed update yesterday on its cybersecurity incident, helping narrow perceived downside from the headline risk. The company initially announced the matter in late November and then provided additional disclosure in a Dec. 16 8-K, noting it became aware of unauthorized access to customer accounts and activated its incident-response process.

Investors are treating the latest update as better-than-feared and a meaningful reduction in headline risk. The incident has been a notable overhang since CPNG's initial notice in late November, when it said it became aware on Nov. 18 and that unauthorized access may have begun as early as June via overseas servers. The new update helps narrow perceived downside by suggesting the perpetrator retained data from only a small subset of accounts relative to the 33 million accessed, while reiterating that sensitive information such as payment and log-in data was not compromised and that the data was not transferred to others.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (flat), Nasdaq Composite (+0.1%), and DJIA (-0.2%) sit mixed in close proximity to their flatlines. 

Gold settled today's session $45.90 higher (+1.0%) at $4,551.30/ozt, notching another record high in the process and boosting several mining names in the materials sector (+0.4%).

Silver also set a record high, settling today's session $5.33 higher (+7.4%) at $77.21/ozt.