Stock Market Today, Dec. 31: Stocks Tick Up After Jobless Claims Come in Soft to End 2025

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Happy Wednesday. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Dec. 31, 2025. You tin travel the latest updates connected the marketplace present successful our regular unrecorded blog.

The U.S. banal marketplace is present open. Reversing a tiny diminution successful the futures session, the Russell 2000 (+0.06%), Nasdaq (+0.04%), and S&P 500(+0.03%) concisely opened successful the green. The Dow (-0.09%), meanwhile, remained astir wherever it was successful the overnight session.

At past glance, each 4 indexes are present underwater, adjacent if by conscionable a fewer ground points. That kicks disconnected the last trading league connected a little note, with the anticipation that contiguous could people a 4th consecutive time of declines successful the S&P 500.

Speaking of which, here's the scale astatine past look -- it looks rough:

There are immoderate notable exceptions, likeNvidia(+0.84%), which is rallying aft placing a hefty caller bid with chipmaker TSMC (+1.5%), spurred successful portion by robust request successful China for its caller H200 chip. The boosted accumulation comes arsenic the erstwhile has implicit 2 cardinal orders for the AI spot from Chinese firms, but conscionable 700,000 units successful stock.

It seems to beryllium 1 of the fewer agleam spots this morning. That said, we volition update this conception periodically with immoderate different developments from the greeting quality cycle, if relevant.

Jobless claims information is conscionable out. In the week of Dec. 27, Initial Claims were 199,000, little than the 220,000 expected. That sub-200K study is the lowest study since the week of Nov. 29, which came towards the extremity of the authorities shutdown and was mostly offset by a ample leap successful the pursuing week.

Regardless, it underlays a sustained diminution successful jobless claims. Initial claims person declined present for 4 consecutive weeks. The aforesaid 4 weeks of diminution could beryllium seen successful Continuing Claims for the week of Dec. 20, which came successful astatine 1.866 million, declining from the 1.923 cardinal reported successful the erstwhile week.

The cardinal takeaway present is that the labour marketplace is simply slowing, not shattering. That's apt to beryllium atrocious quality for galore of the 'rate chopped believers', who mightiness beryllium banking connected an amenable Fed Chair to accelerate the complaint of cuts adjacent year. As Fed Governors person demonstrated from yesterday's FOMC commentary, they are decidedly consenting to prioritize their combat against ostentation unless there's crushed to fishy further decay successful the labour environment.