Wall St closes lower as investors position for busy week of data

Wall St closes lower as investors position for busy week of data

By Abigail Summerville and Johann M Cherian

December 15, 2025  4:33 PM ESTUpdated 59 mins ago

After Friday’s modest correction after a series of record-breaking days, the indexes continued moving modestly lower again on Monday as investors sit on the fence awaiting a slew of data coming later this week with more labor reports as well as retail sales, business activity and inflation. With the record breakers being mostly due to AI fever and the correction on Friday being mostly due to renewed fears of a possible coming AI bubble in the wake of the fever pitch, the markets have returned to caution until more reports surface.  

Wall Street ends lower; fears of AI bubble and inflation send investors away

Wall Street ends lower; fears of AI bubble and inflation send investors away

By Sinéad Carew and Johann M Cherian

Fri December 12, 2025 4:41 PM  

After reaching record heights on Wednesday and Thursday, the indexes took a dip on Friday when the Fed dissenters to Wednesday cut came out front and center again with their pronounced reservations that the cut was not necessary and will likely create more inflation. This combined with both Oracle and Broadcom turning in depressed forecasts sent both stocks down and the overall Nasdaq and S&P on resumed fears of an AI bubble. Oracle alone lost more than 15% of its value in the last two days.  

Dow, S&P 500 mark record closes; Oracle drags on the Nasdaq

Dow, S&P 500 mark record closes; Oracle drags on the Nasdaq

By Sinéad Carew and Johann M Cherian

Thu December 11, 2025 5:00 PM  

On the day following the Fed rate cut announcement and pleased by the less hawkish tone than feared, the market picked up tailwinds that pushed the S&P and Dow up, the Dow straight way up 646 points. Investors were leaning heavily on Powell’s encouraging remarks putting the labor market as a priority over inflation as an indication that more cuts would be coming next year. Disappointing news from Oracle stoked more fears of overinvestment in AI but those fears were somewhat abated by Disney’s announcement of another $1 billion investment in AI.  

Wall Street indexes rally after Fed cuts interest rates

Wall Street indexes rally after Fed cuts interest rates

By Sinéad Carew and Johann M Cherian

Wed December 10, 2025 4:48 PM  

The indexes were all pretty close to flat running all the way up to the Fed announcement, then zoomed up immediately upon the news that there was indeed going to be a ¼ point cut. Though there remained significant concerns about policy direction in 2026, the fact that commentary about no more rate cuts until further notice due to inflation all took an immediate backseat when Powell commented that the labor market remains down and he doesn’t want Fed policy to stifle that.  

S&P 500 ends slightly down as investors await Fed rate decision

S&P 500 ends slightly down as investors await Fed rate decision

By Sinéad Carew and Johann M Cherian

Tue December 9, 2025 4:52 PM

Despite all the division within the Fed, optimism is still very high for a rate cut on Wednesday but doubts have grown that there will be more cuts coming in 2026. Thus the indexes were way up in the morning, the Dow up over 200, but then everything started sliding at the noon hour with both the Dow and the S&P losing all their gains and then quite a bit besides. Even with the rate cut, sentiment says that Fed comments will be more hawkish than desired with warnings that prices may well continue upward again because of the cut.  

US stocks end lower as investors wait for Fed rate decision

US stocks end lower as investors wait for Fed rate decision

By Sinéad Carew and Johann M Cherian

Mon December 8, 2025 4:47 PM  

Anxiety is high over a deeply divided Fed concerning Wednesday’s announcement on rates and the nervousness sent the whole market down all day long, the Dow down 3-digits again, all hedging bets in case the outcome is negative. Despite this, odds of a ¼ point cut still stand at a whopping 89%. But what investors are really counting on is not so much the ¼ point cut in two days but a lot more clues about future policy moves, something they feel has been sorely lacking.  

Wall St closes with slight gains as data keeps Fed cut expectations on track

Wall St closes with slight gains as data keeps Fed cut expectations on track

By Chuck Mikolajczak

Fri December 5, 2025 4:25 PM  

PCE came in right on target so gave the markets a modest bump. Commerce Dept data showed consumer spending also increasing right in line with forecasts. The problem is that all this data is still old, August and September, so still considered unreliable. The U of M Consumer Sentiment Survey also improved and even topped estimates. Even though there are still a large number of Fed officials opposed to a rate cut due to inflation concerns, the market consensus for a cut next Wednesday stands today at 87.2%, up from 30% two weeks ago. For the week, all three indexes climbed modestly and that makes two weeks in a row of gains. At 16.2 billion, volume still remains over more than a billion shares shy of the 17.72 average. 

DJ: 47,850.94  -31.96        NAS: 23,505.14  +51.04        S&P: 6,857.12  +7.40              12/4

DJ: 47,954.99  +104.05     NAS: 23,578.13  +72.99        S&P: 6,870.40  +13.28            12/5

Fri 12-5-25 4:25 pm Wall St advances as data keeps Fed cut expectations on track | Reuters