By Khadija Saeed
Publication Date: 2025-12-26 18:48:00
New York — Friday, December 26, 2025 (1:34 p.m. ET). U.S. markets are open right now, with the New York Stock Exchange’s core session running from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. [1]
For AI-focused investors, this post‑Christmas Friday is shaping up like a classic year‑end setup: thin liquidity, big headlines in megacap tech and semis, and a market still trying to price the next phase of the AI cycle—inference, custom silicon, and data‑center infrastructure—without tripping over valuation and policy risks. [2]
The broader market backdrop: record highs, year-end momentum, and a closer look at AI spending
U.S. stocks have been pressing toward fresh milestones as 2025 winds down. Reuters reports the S&P 500 is about 1% from 7,000, with the index on track for an unusually long string of monthly gains, even after earlier December turbulence tied to worries about AI spending and tech-sector weakness. [3]
The important nuance for AI-stock readers is that the market isn’t simply…
