US stocks rose on Friday after snapping a recent losing streak, as signs of cooling inflation and waning AI worries buoyed Wall Street optimism toward the tail end of a topsy-turvy week.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) put on 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained over 1.3%, building on Thursday’s roaring rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) climbed 0.3%.
With the late-week rebound, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq booked weekly wins, rising 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively, in the last full week of trading in 2025 as Wall Street tries for a “Santa Claus rally” to end the year. The Dow fell 0.6% on the week.
On the tech front, Oracle (ORCL) stock jumped after China’s ByteDance signed deals to create a US TikTok joint venture, including the company, which has had a turbulent week. Faith in the AI trade got another boost from Nvidia (NVDA), whose shares popped on a Reuters report that the US is reviewing prospects for sales of its H200 chips in China.
Meanwhile, nine pharmaceuticals struck deals with the Trump administration on Friday to lower drug prices for some Americans in exchange for a three-year tariff exemption on their products.
Investors got through a catch-up week for economic data with next year’s rate-cut hopes intact, having embraced the outcome of this week’s delayed November reports on jobs and consumer inflation despite warnings over their reliability.
A rosier inflation picture, combined with a weakening job market, has reignited hopes that the Federal Reserve will continue its recent string of easing.
A plurality of traders are still betting on two cuts next year but have shifted more bets in recent days toward more cuts. Friday will bring a final picture of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan, after the firm’s initial December survey found the key measure increasing for the first time in five months.
Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) rose to hit 4.15% as bond markets across the world absorbed the Bank of Japan’s hike in interest rates to the highest level since 1995.
US stock markets will be open as scheduled on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26, the NYSE and Nasdaq said, after President Trump ordered the federal government to close on those days.