U.S. stock futures were little changed Friday as traders came back from the Christmas holiday, with the major averages on pace for weekly gains.
S&P 500 futures traded around the flatline, while Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 35 points, or 0.1%.
For the week, the S&P 500 was up 1.4%, putting the benchmark on track for its fourth weekly advance in five weeks. The Dow and Nasdaq were also up more than 1% week to date.
Wall Street is also coming off a record-setting session, with the S&P 500 setting new intraday and closing all-time highs on Wednesday. U.S. markets were closed Thursday due to the Christmas holiday.
“2025 is coming to an end with a few more positives than negatives this year,” wrote Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat. “While the common narrative revolves around an “AI Bubble” and tariff fears, along with volatility possibly surrounding another government shutdown and/or tariffs and inflation, U.S. stocks have largely ignored all of these fears thus far, heading into late 2025.”
Investors are also in a historically strong seasonal period, as they await a potential Santa Claus rally. The rally occurs between the last five trading days of the year and the first two of the new year. Data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac shows the S&P 500 averages a 1.3% gain during that time going back to 1950.
Three months ago Oracle named Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as its new CEOs. They’re off to a rough start.
Oracle shares have plummeted 30% so far this quarter. With four trading days remaining in the period, the stock is on pace for its sharpest decline since 2001 and the dot-com bust.
Investors have grown skeptical about the database software vendor’s ability to open more server farms for ChatGPT operator OpenAI, which agreed in September to spend over $300 billion with Oracle. Read more.
— Jordan Novet
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
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— Liz Napolitano
Ross Stores did something unusual in 2025: it kept opening more brick-and-mortar locations as others in the industry consolidated their real estate footprint.
The company opened 90 new stores between its flagship Ross Dress for less and its dd’s Discount sister chain. Meanwhile, others such as Dollar General said earlier this year they would close around 100 physical locations. Walgreens also said it would close hundreds of stores in 2025.
This bet on brick and mortar seems to have paid off, as far as investors are concerned. Ross Stores hit an all-time high earlier in December, and the stock is up more than 20% — outpacing the S&P 500′s 17.9% advance. The stock has also taken a leg higher since posting better-than-expected results for the third quarter and raised its guidance for the fourth quarter.
The stock has continued to rise despite trade fears and concerns around the economy and tariffs. The retailer’s resilience in a volatile tariff environment can be a boon for the stock in 2026, according to analysts covering the stock.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Itzel Franco
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