US stocks were little changed on Friday, and traders are on the lookout for more records as they return from the Christmas break for a single session before the weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) all held near the flat line in thin post-Christmas trading.
Meanwhile, precious metals continued a torrid rally, with gold (GC=F) and silver (SI=F) futures hitting new highs amid fresh geopolitical tensions and continued dollar weakness (DX=F).
Stocks ended the shortened Christmas Eve session with the benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow at all-time highs. The three major indexes notched their fifth consecutive victory as Wall Street entered the so-called Santa Claus rally period: the last five trading sessions of the year and the first two of the new year.
The bullish trend has put the indices 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 about 18% so far this year, on track for its sixth year of more than 15% gains in the last seven.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq has accelerated its gains with a rise of more than 20% in 2025, despite briefly entering a bear market after President Trump imposed his most radical tariffs in April.
Stocks have maintained their upward trajectory despite dwindling bets on interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year. Traders are betting on a less than 15% chance of a cut next month, although bets are more divided 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.
LIVE 5 updates
