Stock futures pointed higher Friday to ring in the new year after major equities indexes ended 2025 on four-session losing streaks.
After markets were closed yesterday for New Year’s Day, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up a respective 0.9%, 0.5%, and 0.4%, with AI-related stocks leading advances.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, benchmark S&P 500, and blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average finished lower for a fourth straight session Wednesday following a five-session winning streak through Christmas Eve, but still closed the year up about 20%, 16%, and 13%, respectively, powered by strong advances from several AI-tied firms.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firm Baidu (BIDU) soared 11% before the bell after its AI chip unit, Kunlunxin, filed to go public in Hong Kong. Micron Technology (MU), whose stock soared 239% in 2025, rose about 3% in early trading; Palantir (PLTR), which surged 135% last year, was up more than 2%; and Intel (INTC) and Nvidia (NVDA) were up 2% and 1.5%, respectively.
Elsewhere, Tesla (TSLA) shares rose 1.5% ahead of its expected fourth-quarter deliveries figures, while those of RH (RH) and Wayfair (W) advanced roughly 5% and 2.5%, respectively, after President Donald Trump delayed tariffs on imported furniture.
After surging in 2025, gold futures rose about 1.5% to $4,405 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, were down 0.6% to $57.05 per barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of commercial and consumer loans, ticked lower to 4.15% from Wednesday’s close of 4.17%.
Bitcoin was trading around $89,400, up from the day’s low of below $88,200. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, edged higher to 98.45.