Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures trade flat with jobs data set to test early 2026 rally  --  Yahoo Finance  1/6/26 Tue

It is past midnight and I’m afraid I just got home being out all day and eve on business and pleasure, opportunities that don’t very frequently come my way so I had a day of much enjoyed R&R. I say this only to remind everyone that the daily market reports come out around 4:30 each day but by 8 pm more or less vanish. I was able to find something on Yahoo Finance but it’s never as nearly as complete as my usual source, Reuters. However, the charts did show that, after a brief hiccup in the morning, all three indexes had a surge after 11 a.m. with 3-digit gains all around and another especially huge gain on the Dow.  This was explained in the Yahoo report as being triggered by investors more or less ignoring the geopolitical concerns raised by Venezuela and holding on to hopes that the labor reports due later this week will provide the wanted justification for more rate cuts. I am able to provide the closing numbers below as usual and, per the CBOE, volume coming in once again at a whopping 19.2 billion vs the 15.9 billion average. DJ:          48,977.18  +594.79                 NAS:       23,395.82  +160.19                 S&P:       6,902.05  +43.58                     1/5    DJ:          49,462.08  +484.90                 NAS:       23,547.17  +151.35                 S&P:       6,944.82  +42.77                     1/6  (Okay, now I know why I never use Yahoo Finance.  The formatting is always so f'd up!)

Now I remember why I never use Yahoo Finance.  Their formatting is always all f'd up!  

Dow hits record, energy stocks end higher after US strikes Venezuela

Dow hits record, energy stocks end higher after US strikes Venezuela

By Noel Randewich

Mon January 5, 2026 5:09 PM  

For the first day of the first trading week of the new year investors reacted with great enthusiasm to this past weekend’s military operation in Venezuela as giving U.S. oil producers access to the world’s largest oil reserves. The energy index jumped a whopping 2.7% as major players Exxon Mobil and Chevron both surged. Obviously the whole defense sector got a major boost as well with the defense index reaching a record high. The banks are also very much back in favor too as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase also hit records with investors now seeing financials as an attractive alternative to tech.  

Dow closes higher on first day of 2026, still no Santa Claus rally

Dow closes higher on first day of 2026, still no Santa Claus rally

By Saeed Azhar, Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma

Fri January 2, 2026 4:33 PM  

Tech started well in the black this morning but then began an almost immediate pullback spending most of the rest of the session modestly in the red. Industrials on the other hand started in the red and quickly catapulted into the black, the Dow closing with a handsome 3-digit gain while the other two basically just broke even. The Santa Claus Rally has more or less been declared dead after having a first few very good days, But uncertainty over the economy and the future of AI put a damper on it this year, though ironically today in particular was a very good day for AI, chips being up 4%.  

Wall Street ends year's final session lower but posts big annual gains for 2025

Wall Street ends year's final session lower but posts big annual gains for 2025 

By Saeed Azhar, Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma

Wed December 31, 2025 6:58 PM  

There isn’t a mention of it anywhere of what might have happened at 2 pm but after spending the entire session in moderate losses, all three indexes took a major dive at 2 pm. Given a lack of explanation, we’ll focus on the obvious, that being that in this fourth day of losses it would seem the Santa Claus rally this year has petered out. The threat of an overvalued tech market and the year-end reallocations has moved money into safer assets as shown in a big spike in the VIX after 1 pm.  

S&P 500, Nasdaq end slightly down in holiday-thin trade, Meta gains on deal

S&P 500, Nasdaq end slightly down in holiday-thin trade, Meta gains on deal

By Saeed Azhar, Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma

Tue December 30, 2025 4:23 PM

It was a pretty volatile day on all the indexes which is quite typical of a truncated holiday week but in essence the Santa Claus rally remains on pause for a second day as investors seek repositioning of their holdings as today communications services dominated vs declines in tech and financials. As today’s expert put it, “The growth rates are going to converge between tech and everything else next year and the valuation gap is so wide, it is absolutely justified to see repositioning.  

US stocks end down as tech shares drop ahead of New Year

US stocks end down as tech shares drop ahead of New Year

By Saeed Azhar, Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan

Mon December 29, 2025 7:10 PM

The traditional Santa Claus rally took a pause today as investors decided to take profits after last week’s very healthy rally. Some prognosticators have said this is the end of the tech rush while others point to the fact that the stretched valuations are justified by the growth. And even though the Dow reached a new record last week, today industrials and tech took a 3-digit hit and the S&P once again dodged the 7,000 mark.  

Wall St Week Ahead S&P 500 eyes 7,000 mark as investors look for upbeat end to strong 2025

Wall St Week Ahead S&P 500 eyes 7,000 mark as investors look for upbeat end to strong 2025

By Lewis Krauskopf

Fri December 26, 2025 6:03 AM

On this day after Christmas, I completely forgot that the market was open today. The financial media must have also been short-staffed on this shortened week because the above headline was all I could find, none of the usual daily market summaries.  But looking at the charts, it’s apparent that all the indexes were flat today which is understandable given the fact that no one’s home. So we’ll just confine this report to the closing numbers and making a note that per the CBOE, volume came in at a mere 10.5 billion, way below 16.6 average, and that too should surprise anyone. 

DJ: 48,731.81  +289.40        NAS: 23,613.31  +51.46        S&P: 6,932.13  +22.34           12/24

DJ: 48,710.97  -20.19           NAS: 23,593.10  -20.21         S&P: 6,929.94  -2.11             12/26

6:03 a.m. 12/26/25 Wall St Week Ahead S&P 500 eyes 7,000 mark as investors look for upbeat end to strong 2025 | Reuters