“We had a very strong five-day rally, so in a sense we’re just catching our breath today after the holidays,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “This is only day two of the official Santa Claus rally period, so we still have some time and we think there will be some more upward trends in the future.”Market participants have been watching for signs of a seasonal phenomenon called the “Santa Claus rally,” with the S&P 500 running through the last five trading days of the current year and the first two of the new year, a period that began on Wednesday and will run through Jan. 5. Such a rally would bode well for stock performance in 2026.
There are just three trading days left in a turbulent year in which rate swings, simmering geopolitical tensions and the rapid growth of AI-related momentum stocks put investors on a bumpy ride, but one in which the three major indexes, led by the tech-laden Nasdaq, are all on track to post double-digit percentage gains.
“It’s a good reminder to investors that volatility is the price we pay to achieve the solid gains we’ve seen over the past three years,” Detrick added. “Chances are that 2026 won’t be the first year in history without volatility and without bad headlines. So prepare.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.19 points, or 0.04%, to 48,710.97, the S&P 500 lost 2.11 points, or 0.03%, to 6,929.94 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 20.21 points, or 0.09%, to 23,593.10. Of the S&P 500’s 11 major sectors, materials posted the biggest percentage gains, while consumer discretionary was the biggest laggard.
Since the beginning of the year, communications services, technology and industrial services have outperformed the broader market. Real estate appears to be the only sector that will have lost ground by 2025.
Nvidia climbed 1.0% after the AI chipmaker agreed to license chip technology from startup Groq and hire its CEO. The target rose 3.1% after the Financial Times reported that the retailer is facing activism from hedge fund Toms Capital Investment Management, which has made a significant investment in the company.
US-listed shares of precious metal miners such as First Majestic, Coeur Mining and Endeavor Silver rose between 1.2% and 3.0%, while silver and gold prices hit new record highs.
On the NYSE, advancing issues outnumbered declining issues by a ratio of 1.13 to 1. There were 342 new highs and 66 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 1,968 shares rose and 2,605 fell as declining issues outpaced advancers by a 1.32-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite posted 46 new highs and 166 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.22 billion shares, compared to the full-session average of 15.98 billion over the past 20 trading days.
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