Stocks Surge on Friday, Led by Tech Rally, as Market Rebounds From Sluggish Start to 2025

Stocks rebounded on Friday from a sluggish start to 2025, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapping five-session losing streaks and the Dow ending a four-day losing run.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% to close at 40,234.27. The S&P 500 gained 1.3% to end at 5,102.89, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.8% to close at 15,101.8.

Of the major averages, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both down for the week, pressured by declines in shares of major tech companies. The Dow, meanwhile, managed to eke out a gain of 0.2% for the week.

Stocks had stumbled at the end of 2024 — the Dow posted its worst month in more than two years in December — after riding high for most of the year.

Shares of major tech companies, which had been among the big decliners in the market's recent downturn, were mostly higher on Friday.

Nvidia (NVDA) closed 4.5% higher ahead of an eagerly awaited speech by CEO Jensen Huang that's scheduled for late Monday. Tesla (TSLA) jumped 8.2%, recovering from a five-day losing run during which shares slid 18% of their value.

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) also gained ground.

Apple (AAPL), which last week was on the cusp of becoming the first company ever to surpasses $4 trillion in market capitalization, slipped 0.2% to finish lower for the fifth straight day.

Several of the other big winners from 2024 were soared on Friday. Shares of server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI) and power utility Vistra (VST) jumped 11% and 8.5%, respectively.

Shares of data analytics software company Palantir (PLTR), the S&P 500's biggest gainer last year, tacked on 6.3%.

Shares of U.S. Steel (X) were down 6.5% after President Joe Biden decided to block the $14.1 billion sale of the American company to Japan's Nippon Steel.

Shares of companies that make and distribute beers, wines and spirits were also under pressure Friday, after the Surgeon General said that alcohol is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer and should come with warning labels that note it causes cancer.

Shares of Johnnie Walker maker Diageo (DEO) fell 3.8%, while Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) slid 2.2%.

In other markets, bitcoin was at $98,200, up from an earlier low of around $96,000. Gold futures were down 0.7% at $2,650 an ounce and WTI crude oil futures rose 1.2%.

The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is sensitive to expectations for future interest rates, was at 4.60 this afternoon, up from 4.58 yesterday.