Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq jump as Nvidia, Tesla lead spark to end losing week
US stocks stepped higher on Friday, shaking off a downbeat start to 2025 as Tesla (
TSLA
) and Nvidia (
NVDA
) led a tech-heavy comeback.
The S&P 500 (
^GSPC
) rose 1.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (
^DJI
) gained 0.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (
^IXIC
) led the gains with an increase of 1.8%.
Friday was the last day for the S&P 500 (
^GSPC
) to pull off a
“Santa Claus” rally
, watched closely as a historical
harbinger of solid returns
for January and the year.
But hopes dimmed after the
benchmark fell again on Thursday
to notch a five-session losing streak, the longest since April. The S&P 500 and Dow both ended the holiday-shortened week with losses of over 1%, while the Nasdaq is facing a weekly drop of 2%.
But tech stocks led Friday’s rebound, as Tesla shares rose 8% after the EV maker said its
sales in China climbed to a record high
in 2024. Tesla’s
first yearly decline in global sales
dragged the stock down 6% on Thursday. Meanwhile, Nvidia shares were up more than 4% after another sizable gain on Thursday.
US Steel (
X
) stock slid 5% after President Joe
Biden blocked Japanese buyer Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion takeover
of the company, which had become a lightning rod for political opposition.
On the data docket, the slump in US manufacturing lessened in December, according to new a fresh reading from the the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Purchasing Managers Index. The figure of 49.3% is 0.9% higher than November’s data, but still failed to clear the 50-point threshold, which indicated a contraction.
The reading is another data glimpse into the health of US economy and will help influence the Federal Reserve’s next decision on whether to cut interest rates.
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