Stock Market Today: Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Rise, Bringing Brightness Back to Wall Street at the End of a Volatile Week

US stock markets rebounded on Friday after recent declines. Signs of easing inflationary pressures and diminishing concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) gave investors renewed hope at the end of a volatile week.

Stock Market Today Dow, S&P 500

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained about 0.5%, raising hopes of a continuation of Thursday's strong rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) also rose 0.3%.

In the tech sector, Oracle (ORCL) shares surged after China's ByteDance signed an agreement with the company to form a US TikTok joint venture. Meanwhile, confidence in AI-related stocks was further boosted by Nvidia. According to a Reuters report, the US is reviewing the possibility of selling its H200 chips to China, which sent Nvidia shares soaring.

Overall, investors maintained hopes for further interest rate cuts as they navigated a week of economic data-packed economic data. Although November employment and consumer inflation data were delayed and raised some questions, the market took them positively.

Inflation data released on Thursday provided renewed energy to Wall Street. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicated that inflation was declining faster than expected. However, some economists cautioned that data collection was limited due to the federal government shutdown, and that January data would provide a truer picture of price pressures.

The softening of inflation and the weakening job market have strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve may continue its accommodative policy. Many traders expect two interest rate cuts next year, while some have even included the possibility of more reductions. On Friday, consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan will be released, showing the first improvement in five months since the preliminary December survey.

Meanwhile, the 10-year US Treasury bond yield (^TNX) rose to 4.15%. This impacted global bond markets after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to the highest level since 1995.

Despite Thursday's rally, stock markets have remained under pressure so far in the last full trading week of 2025. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are heading for a slight decline for the week. Despite expectations of the annual "Santa Claus Rally," a significant rotation out of tech stocks this month has weighed on the indexes.

Meanwhile, the NYSE and Nasdaq have clarified that US stock markets will remain open as scheduled on December 24th and 26th, despite President Trump's order to shut down the federal government.