U.S. stocks slipped in early trading on Wednesday, as Wall Street closed out a year driven by both optimism and uncertainty.
The S&P 500 index fell 0.2 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 111 points, or 0.2 percent, by 10:0a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite similarly fell 0.2 percent, extending a three-day losing streak for the indexes.
Trading is expected to be light ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday, when markets will be closed. With just one trading day left before the year ends, most big investors have closed out their positions, leading to very thin trading volumes.
Even after their mini post-Christmas pullback, the indexes are on track for strong gains for the year.
The S&P 500 is up more than 17 percent this year, it’s third straight double-digit annual gain. The Nasdaq is up 21.3 percent and the Dow has gained 13.7 percent.
Wall Street’s 2025 gains came as investors embraced the optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and its potential for boosting profits across almost all sectors. But the market had no shortage of turbulence along the way amid President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs on imported goods worldwide and uncertainty over the trajectory of interest rates.
The S&P 500 plunged nearly 5 percent on April 3, it’s worst day since the 2020 COVID crash. It fell another 6 percent a day later, after China’s response raised fears of an escalating trade war. Worries also gripped the U.S. Treasury market.
Trump eventually put his tariffs on pause and negotiated agreements with countries to lower his proposed tariff rates on their imports, helping calm investors’ nerves.
Strong profit reports from companies and three cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve also helped drive markets higher.
Still, the AI frenzy that drove markets in 2025 did not come without concerns. Chief among them is the worry that artificial intelligence technology may not produce enough profits and productivity to make all the investment worth it. That could keep the pressure on AI stocks like Nvidia and Broadcom, which were responsible for much of the market’s gains this year.
And it’s not just AI stocks that critics say are too pricey. Stocks across the market still look expensive after their prices climbed faster than profits.
On top of concerns that stocks are overvalued, the ongoing impact of the wide-ranging U.S.-led trade war threatens to add more fuel to inflation in the U.S. Despite the Fed cutting rates over concerns about the labor market, inflation remains solidly above the central bank’s 2 percent target.
Wall Street is betting that the Fed will hold interest rates steady at its next meeting in January.
Traders got an update on the state of the job market Wednesday. The Labor Department reported that fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week with layoffs remaining low despite a weakening labor market.
Technology and communication services stocks were among the biggest weights of the market Wednesday.
Broadcom fell 1.1 percent and Micron Technology was 2 percent lower.
Treasury yields were mostly higher in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.14 percent from 4.13 percent late Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which moves more closely with expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, rose to 3.46 percent from 3.45percent.
Trading in precious metals continued to be volatile as the year winds down. Silver swung back to a big loss, giving back more than 6 percent early Wednesday after Tuesday’s gain of more than 10 percent. Following Friday’s 7.7 percent jump, silver lost nearly 9 percent on Monday. It’s still up more than 140 percent this year.
Gold was down 0.6 percent, but is still up 65 percent in 2025.
Elsewhere, global stock markets including Germany, Japan and South Korea were closed Wednesday for the New Year’s holidays, while trading was mixed in those that remained open.
U.S. crude picked up 39 cents to $58.34 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 36 cents to $61.69 per barrel.
