Markets close out 2025’s last full week of trading on a cheerful note

Stocks rallied for the second day in a row, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all closing higher, giving traders the early Christmas gift they desired.

Toby Bochan

The markets rallied on Friday to close the final full week of trading on a holly jolly holiday note, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Russell 2000 all finishing in the green, buoyed by a return to optimism around the AI trade.

Stocks that moved higher:

Oracle soared after TikTok signed an agreement Thursday night to sell its US operations to a consortium that includes the cloud computing giant.
The data center companies colloquially known as the “neoclouds” — CoreWeave, Nebius, IREN, and Cipher Mining— all shot back into the stratosphere following a steady drumbeat of positive news for the AI theme.
After a “sell the news” moment following President Trump’s executive order directing regulators to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF soared on Friday as investors bet “institutional capital will go into the underlying names”
Rivian rose double-digits for the second day in a row to hit a high not seen since December 2023.
Carnival rode a wave of good news with its latest earnings report, which beat analyst expectations and delivered a strong full-year outlook for 2026.

Stocks that moved lower:

Lyft sank following a downgrade from Wedbush, which said the market is underestimating the negative impact that autonomous vehicles and robotaxi services will have on companies like Lyft and Uber.
Nike plunged on weak guidance after China sales slid, tariffs hit its margins, and direct-to-consumer sales stumbled.
Lamb Weston suffered after management warned of pressures on profits ahead even though it did report generally positive quarterly results.
Health insurers such as Humana, UnitedHealth, Cigna, and Elevance Health dipped following President Trump’s statement that he plans to lobby insurers for lower prices.

Nate Becker3h

Health insurance stocks lose steam as Trump says he’ll lobby insurers for lower prices

Shares of health insurance companies dropped Friday afternoon, as President Trump said he would ask insurers to meet with him in the coming weeks to seek lower prices.

Stocks including Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna, CVS Health, and Elevance Health all either pared gains or went further into the red after Trump’s remarks, which came at the end of a press event to announce pricing deals with nine drugmakers.

“I’m going to call a meeting of the big insurance companies that have gotten so rich,” Trump said, noting that he would lobby them for lower prices.

“I would say that maybe with one talk, they would be willing to cut their prices by 50, 60, or 70%. They’ve made a fortune.”

Max Knoblauch4h

Rivian’s surge continues as stock reaches highest level since December 2023 on analyst upgrades

Shares of EV maker Rivian are on pace to close up double digits for the second day in a row on Friday as bullish investors pour into the stock following analyst upgrades.

Rivian shares were up more than 10% on Friday afternoon, with the stock climbing to its highest level since December 2023.

Webush’s Dan Ives boosted his Rivian price target by 56% to $25 in a note on Friday morning. The analyst wrote that 2026 is a “prove-me” year for the automaker, with its lower-cost R2 model set to launch in the first half.

Ives’s note follows a separate optimistic bit of analysis from Baird, which also boosted its Rivian price target to $25 in a note on Thursday.

If today's gains hold, Friday will mark the third day of double-digit gains for Rivian in the past six trading days. An “AI Day” event that saw the automaker detail autonomous updates and tease a robotaxi plan started the recent run.

Luke Kawa8h

The neoclouds are shooting back up into the stratosphere

Investors’ faith in tech CEOs’ pursuit of digital God has seemingly been restored for now, sparking an intense rally in the speculative AI players that had been in full-on meltdown mode over concerns that the boom had passed its best-before date.

The data center companies colloquially known as the “neoclouds” — CoreWeave, Nebius, IREN, and Cipher Mining — are up more than double digits over the past two sessions, as of 10:40 a.m. ET.

The past 48 hours have brought a steady drumbeat of positive news for the AI theme.

CoreWeave received a vote of confidence from Wall Street as Citi resumed coverage with a buy rating and price target of $135. Oracle, the epicenter of AI credit concerns, has seen a reversal in its fortunes as it nears an acquisition of TikTok’s US operations. And OpenAI’s fundraising efforts appear be going so well that its reported valuation has gone up in back-to-back days.

Before that, Micron’s earnings reaffirmed the intense demand for AI compute, which continues to outstrip supply — a positive sign for the neoclouds. The macro backdrop is also turning perhaps a bit more in favor of lower interest rates, as CPI inflation came in well below expectations.

Snoop Dogg Performs At OVO Hydro Glasgow

Marijuana rescheduling could mean more investment in US weed stocks. There aren’t many ways in.

“Yes, institutional capital will go into the underlying names. The question is: How fast?" one weed company chairman said.

J. Edward Moreno8h

Max Knoblauch9h

Lyft sinks as Wedbush downgrades the stock and warns about robotaxi disruption risk

Shares of Lyft are down about 4% on Friday morning after the ride-hailer was downgraded by Wedbush to “underperform” from “neutral.” Lyft’s rival Uber also ticked down in early trading.

According to a note published Friday by Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt, the market is underestimating the negative impact that autonomous vehicles and robotaxi services will have on companies like Lyft and Uber. Devitt writes that Lyft is more at risk of these downsides than Uber due to its “exposure to the US ridesharing market and undiversified offering mix.” Along with the downgrade, Wedbush lowered its price target for Lyft to $16 from $20.

While the complex robotaxi market is still in early phases, the coming year could be a big one — and that could be rough for the ride-hailers. Per Wedbush, Alphabet’s $100 billion robotaxi biz Waymo is set to launch operations in 20 cities, and Tesla appears to be making strides.

Devitt writes: “As Waymo moves past its 'training wheels' phase of development, we expect more distribution via Waymo One and less via [third-party] integration. 2026 could prove to be a painful year for ridesharing, if true.”