Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow rise as tech recovers, while gold climbs to record high

Stocks rose to kick off the holiday-shortened week as investors looked to move past a shaky start to December in hopes that a seasonal Santa Claus rally might materialize.

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.6% while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) opened 0.4% higher as the major indexes looked to extend their win streak to a third day.

Gold (GC=F) and silver (SI=F) gained 1.7% and 2.2%, respectively, adding to monthly gains.

Crude oil prices also increased after the US intercepted a third Venezuelan oil tanker. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F), the US benchmark, gained 2.25% to trade around $57 a barrel, and Brent (BZ=F), the global benchmark, rose 2.2% to around $61 per barrel.

Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock extended a nearly 18% gain on Friday, rising another 4% in premarket trading, after securing a $816 million contract to build satellites for the US Space Force and successfully launching its Electron rocket for the 21st time this year.

The latest contract with the US Space Development Agency (SDA), announced last Friday, marked Rocket Lab’s largest single contract to date and brings its total contract value with the SDA to $1.3 billion.

And the launch of its Electron rocket on Sunday for a Japan-based Earth imaging company called iQPS set a record for the number of successful launches in a year for the company.

The twin developments boosted the stock to all-time highs. Over the past five days, Rocket Lab’s stock is up about 15%, putting its year-to-date gains at 176%.

Bloomberg reports:

Oil rose as President Donald Trump intensified a blockade on Venezuela, with US forces boarding one tanker and pursuing another within weeks of first capturing a vessel.

Brent crude (BZ=F) climbed to around $61 a barrel, after two weekly declines. The US Coast Guard boarded the Centuries tanker in the Caribbean on Saturday, which was laden with about 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude. It was also in pursuit of the Bella 1, which was en route to the Latin American nation.

Washington has been stepping up pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s government, with Trump aiming to choke off its key revenue stream. The US has designated the regime as a foreign terrorist organization, accusing it of involvement in drug trafficking. Venezuela still has the world’s largest crude reserves, but its exports, most of which go to China, now account for less than 1% of global demand.

There were also heightened risks to supplies from another member of the OPEC+ producer group, after Ukraine hit an oil tanker from Russia’s shadow fleet in the Mediterranean Sea with drones for the first time. That followed strikes on Lukoil PJSC facilities in the Caspian Sea.

The geopolitical situation has helped put a floor under oil prices, which have dropped by about a fifth this year. The declines have been driven by an oversupply as both OPEC+ and the group’s competitors raised production will demand growth slowed.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

The US stock market is poised to be kept on edge next year as investors are caught between fear of missing out on the artificial-intelligence rally and concern that it’s a bubble just waiting to burst.

Big selloffs and quick reversals have been a feature of stock markets for the past 18 months. That trend is likely to continue heading into 2026, with some strategists anticipating that AI will follow the boom-and-bust cycle of past technological revolutions.

The tech companies at the center of the AI investment boom carry an outsized influence. While the divergence between the group and the rest of the S&P 500 (^GSPC) has helped dampen realized volatility across the market in 2025 as gains in tech cancel out declines elsewhere, investors are alert for stumbles in chip names to spread. That would cause volatility gauges such as the Cboe Volatility Index to surge.

“2025 has generally been a year of rotation and narrow leadership, rather than one of broad risk-on versus risk-off,” said Kieran Diamond, derivatives strategist at UBS Group AG. “This has helped to drag implied correlation levels down to record lows, which in turn leaves the VIX at risk of ongoing outsized spikes whenever we see macro drivers taking over again.”

The scale of the stock-price runup has made angst about a bubble the top concern among fund managers, a recent Bank of America Corp. (BAC) survey found. But another is the classic risk of missing out if it still has more room to run — potentially punishing anyone who pulls back too early.

The strategists expect equity volatility to be supported in 2026 primarily because asset bubbles tend to get more unstable as they inflate. As a result, they say investors should expect occasional declines surpassing 10%, but with record-fast snapbacks as traders realize the bubble isn’t popping yet.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Gold (GC=F) and silver (SI=F)soared to all-time highs, as escalating geopolitical tensions and bets on further US rate cuts added momentum to the best annual performance in more than four decades.

Bullion climbed more than 1.5% to surpass the previous record of $4,381 an ounce set in October, while silver rallied as much as 3.4%, closing in on $70 an ounce, extending gains that have put both metals firmly on course for their strongest annual performance since 1979.

The latest push higher comes as traders bet that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice in 2026, as US President Donald Trump also advocates for looser monetary policy. Lower rates are typically a tailwind for precious metals, which don’t pay interest.

Rising geopolitical tensions are also enhancing the haven appeal of gold and silver. The US has intensified an oil blockade against Venezuela, stepping up pressure on the government of President Nicolás Maduro, while Ukraine attacked an oil tanker from Russia’s shadow fleet in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time.

Read more here.