US stocks were little changed Friday, with traders on watch for more records as they return from the Christmas holiday for a single session ahead of the weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), the S&P 500 (^GSPC), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) all hovered near the flatline in thin post-Christmas trading.
Meanwhile, precious metals continued a torrid rally, with gold (GC=F) and silver (SI=F) futures rising to fresh records amid fresh geopolitical tensions and continued weakness in the dollar (DX=F).
Stocks ended the shortened Christmas Eve session with both the benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow at record highs. All three major indexes notched their fifth consecutive victory as Wall Street entered into the so-called Santa Claus rally period — the last five trading sessions of the year and the first two of the new year.
The upward trend has put the indexes on track for solid weekly gains as they begin to wrap up a rollercoaster — but ultimately high-flying — year. The S&P 500 is up some 18% so far this year, on track for its sixth year of 15%-plus gains out of the past seven.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq has paced gains with an over 20% rise in 2025, despite briefly entering into a bear market after President Trump imposed his most sweeping tariffs in April.
Stocks have kept on their upward trajectory despite increasingly shrinking bets on interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year. Traders are betting on less than 15% odds of a cut next month, though bets are more split on what the central bank will do in March.
No major economic data or earnings results are expected to close out the holiday-shortened week.
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