4:02pm: Tech stocks shine
Wall Street finished the week on a positive note, as investors brushed off AI concerns amid signs of cooling inflation.
The Nasdaq added 1.3% at 23,307 points, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% at 6,834 points and the Dow Jones added 0.4% at 48,134 points.
3:41pm: Proactive news headlines
- Abacus Global Management (NASDAQ:ABL) announced plans to transfer the listing of its Class A common stock to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the Nasdaq Stock Market.
- OKYO Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ:OKYO) announced that its executive chairman and founder, Gabriele Cerrone, along with members of the company’s management team, will ring the Nasdaq Opening Bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, New York.
- Gunnison Copper Corp (TSX:GCU, OTCQB:GCUMF) announced that it has entered into a collaboration framework agreement with Lunasonde to test the use of advanced airborne remote sensing technology across part of its mineral property portfolio in southern Arizona.
2:42pm: Market movers
- Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) saw its 12-month price target raised to $25 from $16 by Wedbush, which maintained an “Outperform” rating on the electric vehicle maker. Shares of Rivian traded up about 9.5% at $22 on Friday morning.
- Blackberry (TSX:BB) reported third quarter fiscal 2026 results on Friday, posting earnings and revenue above analyst expectations, but shares fell about 10% as investors focused on guidance and near-term outlook.
- TikTok has struck a deal to form a joint venture with US and Gulf investors in a bid to resolve longstanding national security concerns and avoid a ban in the United States, five years after then-president Donald Trump first threatened to block the video-sharing app. Shares of Oracle, which will take a 15% stake in the US business, jumped 7%.
12:56pm: More data, more questions
Post-shutdown economic data continued to roll in this week, including employment figures for October and November, November CPI, and October retail sales. Despite the influx of data, the overall economic picture remains largely unchanged, according to Wells Fargo analysts.
Hiring remains sluggish, with just 64,000 net new jobs added in November and October showing a drop largely due to a decline in federal employment (-162K) as deferred federal workers rolled off the payroll. Even adjusting for this, three-month average job growth is only 22,000.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in October (after missing data due to the shutdown), surpassing the highest longer-run estimate from FOMC participants, although weekly jobless claims remain relatively low, highlighting that the issue is weak hiring rather than layoffs.
Inflation data were also softer than expected. Core CPI fell to 2.6% annually, with headline CPI at 2.7%, marking the lowest run-rates in four years. However, Wells Fargo cautions that the data likely understate inflation due to collection gaps from the shutdown, including delayed November price data. Two-month CPI changes were unusually low compared with mid-year trends.
Wells Fargo expects the Federal Reserve to maintain its current policy stance at the January meeting, citing the need for more complete and reliable data before making adjustments.
12:05pm: OpenAI fundraising
OpenAI is aiming to raise as much as $100 billion in a fundraising round that could value the company at up to $830 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The company plans to use the funds to expand its artificial-intelligence infrastructure and accelerate growth, per the report.
The round could be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2026, though terms and investor demand remain uncertain.
11:07am: Stocks rally
The Nasdaq led Wall Street higher on Friday following the Fed’s rate cut and lower-than-expected CPI print.
“Stock markets around the globe saw another day of strong gains on the back of Thursday's post-soft US inflation rally,” IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph said.
“Cryptocurrencies also regained recently lost ground with Bitcoin recovering from its early December trough and rallying by over 4%."
Oil prices, meanwhile, were on track for a second straight weekly loss.
“The price of oil - which in the course of this week slid to levels last seen in 2021 - is on track for its second consecutive weekly loss amid ample supply and mediocre demand,” Rudolph said.
“At the same time the price of gold sees a second week of gains and remains close to its $4,381 record high while that of silver is on track for a fourth straight week of parabolic gains as it approaches the $70 per ounce mark."
10:00am: Oracle and Micron lead Nasdaq higher
Tech stocks were winning again as trading opened in New York, with the Nasdaq rising 1.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the Dow up 0.6%.
Top risers on the Nasdaq 100 are led by Micron Technology for a second day, up another 6.3%.
Following are Pinduoduo, Lam Research, AMD, Strategy and Nvidia.
Oracle is topping the S&P leaderboard, up 7.2%, then Micron and AMD.
7:45am: Unclear picture on 'quadruple witching' trading day
US stock futures were not painting a decisive picture ahead of Friday's opening bell, as investors mull the week's jobs and inflation data but also prepare for the Christmas break.
The third Friday of December, today is branded "quadruple witching" by traders as four sets of derivatives simultaneously expire or are rolled, which can lead to increased trading volume and higher volatility, especially in the final hour of trading.
Ahead of the open in New Yor, S&P 500 futures were anticipating a 0.1% gain, behind a 0.3% improvement for the Nasdaq 100 and a flat start for the Dow Jones.
Wall Street saw modest gains the previous day, as investors cheered signs that US inflation might be easing.
The Nasdaq led the charge with a gain of 313 points or 1.4% to 23,006, while the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 6,775 and the Dow Jones inched up 0.1% to 47,952. The Russell 2000 climbed 0.7% to 2,508.
In the early hours, European investors "appear to be on their holidays already", said market analyst Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets, with indices throughout the region treading water at the open.
He said the previous day's collapse in both headline and core CPI inflation had lifted sentiment, but there were "some significant questions over the quality of the data".
But as the final Friday before Christmas in a week that has seen a huge amount of data and central bank announcements, "there is an expectation that we start to see volumes and volatility ease off from here," Mahony said.
The fact that it is "quadruple witching" does not matter for long-term investors, said Kenny Polcari at Slatestone Wealth, as while trading volume will surge "that means nothing".
"Yes, price moves can be exaggerated if someone mismanages positioning. But in the end, these moves are purely mechanical. There is nothing fundamental driving them...Expect noise. Expect volume. Just don’t confuse either with something real or fundamentally meaningful."
He said the next two weeks are holiday-shortened weeks, so many big investors will be away, volumes will decline and "moves will become even more amplified in either direction".
Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE, XETRA:NKE) shares were down over 11% in premarket trading after the sportswear giant reported overnight.
Second-quarter earnings beat Wall Street revenue expectations, though earnings per share were lower compared with the same period last year, sparking concerns over margin pressures and regional performance.
Shares in Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) were up over 4% premarket after it bagged an important role in keeping TikTok running in the US, with a deal struck to form a joint venture, with US and Gulf investors taking a combined 45% stake to resolve longstanding national security concerns and avoid a US ban.
ByteDance, the social media app's Beijing-based parent, will retain a minority 19.9% stake in the US unit, while operational control of US data protection, algorithm oversight and content moderation will be transferred to the newly formed venture.
Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi technology investor MGX each take 15%, in an agreement expected to value the US business at $14 billion.