MARKET SNAPSHOT

U.S. stock indexes finished higher in a holiday-shortened session. Treasury yields slipped as investors expect a Fed hold next month despite fresh signs of a resilient labor market. The dollar held generally steady. Oil futures ended little changed. Gold futures edged lower, while silver futures notched another record high.

MARKET WRAPS

EQUITIES

An increase in shares of Nike boosted major indexes on Wednesday.

The sportswear brand's stock added 4.6% after a filing showed Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, who serves on Nike's board, recently bought about $2.9 million of shares following the company's disappointing earnings last week.

That helped boost major indexes, which posted their fifth-straight day of gains in a lightly traded holiday-shortened session. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to its 39th record close of 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6% to settle at its 19th record of the year, while the Nasdaq composite edged up 0.2%.

U.S. stock markets closed at 1 p.m. ET. They will remain closed Thursday for Christmas Day and will resume regular trading at the end of the week.

Analysts said that trading on Wednesday was typical for a year-end period.

"It's usually pretty calm. It's usually light volume around holidays, and you tend to get an upward bias," said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group.

Earlier Wednesday, markets in Asia ended mixed.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5%, the Shenzhen Composite Index increased 1.0%, and the ChiNext Price Index added 0.8%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.1%.

Stocks in Australia slipped, as the S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index fell 0.4%.

New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 Index edged up 0.1%.

COMMODITIES

Crude futures ended a shortened pre-Christmas session with little change as U.S. actions to contain Venezuela's oil trade and continuing Russia-Ukraine tensions provided support against views of oversupply.

The Venezuela blockade is the main focus going into the holiday weekend, said Dennis Kissler of BOK Financial.

"While the backup of the blockade and sanctions is not decreasing world supplies, the fact that it may be delaying them is keeping a bullish tilt to prices."

WTI slipped 3 cents to $58.35 a barrel and Brent ended down 0.2% at $62.24 a barrel.

Front-month gold futures topped $4,500 a troy ounce again in intraday trading, before surrendering gains to lose less than 0.1%. The precious metal is up more than 70% in 2025.

Silver futures rose for a fourth-consecutive session, adding around 0.8% to settle at a new record of $71.03. The metal's blistering rally has seen prices more than double this year.

Copper advanced 0.4%.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

Jobless Claims Fell Last Week

The number of Americans who filed for new unemployment benefits declined last week, as the U.S. labor market faces heightened economic uncertainty.

In the week through Dec. 20, 214,000 new unemployment claims were filed, a decrease from 224,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were forecasting 225,000 claims.

Claims filings have been fluctuating between 200,000 and 250,000 a week, on a seasonally adjusted basis, for most of this year, as employers have been reluctant to let go of workers in face of a hazy economic outlook.

U.S. Delays New Tariffs on Chinese Chips Until 2027

WASHINGTON-The Trump administration accused China of employing unfair trade practices in the semiconductor industry but said it would hold off on imposing additional tariffs until 2027.

In a public notice posted on Tuesday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said China's "targeting of the semiconductor industry for dominance is unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce and thus is actionable."

The notice said the initial tariff level will remain at zero for 18 months and then be increased in June 2027 to an undetermined rate.

Tesla Under Investigation by U.S. Regulator for Model 3 Door Release Defects

A U.S. automobile safety regulator opened an investigation into Tesla, saying the mechanical door release on the company's 2022 Tesla Model 3 isn't easily accessible.

The Office of Defects Investigation at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the investigation Wednesday after receiving a petition in late November. The office said the issue is estimated to affect more than 179,000 cars.

"The petition cites that the mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitive to locate during an emergency," the ODI said. It cited one failure report that led to a crash or fire and a nonfatal injury.

Nike Stock Price Gets a Lift After Apple's Tim Cook Doubles His Stake

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook gave Nike an early Christmas gift.

Shares of the sportswear retailer jumped Wednesday after the company disclosed that Cook, the lead independent director on its board, nearly doubled his personal stake by buying $2.9 million of its stock.

His investment provided a jolt of support for Nike, which has been plotting a turnaround after losing ground to rivals and seeing sales sag.

BP Agrees to Sell Majority of Castrol Lubricants Unit to Stonepeak

BP said it has agreed to sell a majority stake in its Castrol lubricants business to investment firm Stonepeak, a deal that values the entire division at $8 billion.

Under the deal, BP is set to receive roughly $6 billion in proceeds from the sale of a 65% stake to Stonepeak.

Sanofi to Buy Vaccine Maker Dynavax in $2.2 Billion Deal

Sanofi agreed to buy vaccine specialist Dynavax Technologies in a $2.2 billion cash deal, turning to dealmaking in a bid to move past pipeline setbacks.

The French pharmaceutical company announced the acquisition on Wednesday, minutes after it said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its tolebrutinib drug candidate for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

With uncertainty about U.S. tariffs and drug pricing in the rearview mirror after Sanofi joined other drugmakers in the latest round of industry pacts with the Trump administration, investors have been scrutinizing how the drugs the company has in the pipeline perform.

Expected Major Events for Thursday

05:30/JPN: Nov Tokyo area department store sales

05:30/JPN: Nov Nationwide department store sales

23:50/JPN: Nov Preliminary Retail Sales

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 24, 2025 16:59 ET (21:59 GMT)

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