S&P 500 notches record high close driven by Broadcom, other chipmakers

S&P 500 notches record high close driven by Broadcom, other chipmakers

By Noel Randewich

Fri January 9, 2026 6:16 PM  

It was a great day overall with both industrials and tech enjoying handsome 3-digit gains as the chip sector sees AI as getting closer to showing tangible results with the index gaining 2.7% to a record high. Industrials got a boost from employment declining more than expected but accompanied by a decline in unemployment suggesting the job market was not declining too rapidly and thus not change rate cut expectations.  

Wall Street ends mixed as tech dips, defense stocks rally

Wall Street ends mixed as tech dips, defense stocks rally

By Purvi Agarwal and Noel Randewich

Thu January 8, 2026 7:10 PM

The Dow headed straight up, the Nasdaq straight down as industrials reacted to a proposed strongly beefed up defense budget and tech, though AI is still hot, still haunted by valuation fears. Trump is proposing hiking the defense budget by at least 50% sending defense stocks way up. New unemployment claims rose modestly and the overall labor demand remains sluggish. All eyes are on tomorrow’s nonfarm payrolls for more hints on Fed rate policy for the coming year. Volume was heavy at 16.9 billion, passing the 16.3 average. 

DJ: 48,996.08  -466.00        NAS: 23,584.28  +37.10       S&P: 6,920.93  -23.89             1/7

DJ: 49,266.11  +270.03       NAS: 23,480.02  -104.26      S&P: 6,921.45  +0.53               1/8

Thu 1-8-26 7:10 pm Wall Street ends mixed as tech dips, defense stocks rally | Reuters

S&P 500 ends lower, AI stocks buoy Nasdaq

S&P 500 ends lower, AI stocks buoy Nasdaq

By Noel Randewich

Wed January 7, 2026 4:31 PM

Tech had a pretty good morning but a lousy afternoon. The Nasdaq was up almost 200 before starting an afternoon tumble and barely breaking even with the S&P in negative digits and the Dow down big. The possible triggers were an anemic jobs report which failed to budge the meter on future rate cuts.  

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.