Dow Jones Futures Fall After Christmas; Nvidia's Big AI Deal

Dow Jones futures were little changed Friday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures after the stock market’s Christmas holiday.

The stock market rally had a positive half-day Christmas Eve session, with the S&P 500 hitting an all-time intraday high and the Dow Jones marking a record close. Travere Therapeutics (TVTX) made a powerful breakout Wednesday.

Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Nvidia (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) continued to trade in buy areas.

Nvidia will license key technology from AI chip maker Groq and bring over key personnel from the startup, Groq announced Wednesday afternoon. Financial terms of the deal, which is not an outright takeover, were not given, but Nvidia reportedly could be paying $20 billion. Groq was founded by the creators of Google’s Tensor chips that compete with Nvidia’s AI GPUs. Nvidia stock edged higher early Friday.

Google stock and Palantir are on Leaderboard with Nvidia on the watchlist. Nvidia stock, Palantir and Google are on SwingTrader. Travere stock and Palantir are on the IBD 50. Palantir stock and Google are on the IBD Big Cap 20. Nvidia was Wednesday’s IBD Stock Of The Day.

The video embedded in the article reviews Wednesday’s market action and analyzes Travere, Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR) and Palantir.

Dow Jones Futures Today

Dow Jones futures fell 0.1% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures tilted lower. Nasdaq 100 futures rose a fraction.

Gold futures were up modestly while silver and copper rose strongly with platinum and palladium jumping.

Friday will be a full day of trading on U.S. markets, but volume will likely be very light between the Christmas holiday and the weekend. Hong Kong, Canada and key European exchanges also are shut Dec. 26 for Boxing Day.

Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.

Stock Market Rally

The stock market rally had a quiet half-day session Wednesday. with the bullish trend intact. The S&P 500 hit a record intraday high while the Dow Jones set a closing best.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% in Wednesday’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 was up 0.3%.

The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) gained 0.4%. The First Trust Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted Index ETF (QQEW) was up 0.2%.

Leading stocks were mixed to positive. Travere Therapeutics stock bolted 13.9% higher to 40.28, surging out of a short consolidation.

U.S. crude oil prices dipped 3 cents to $58.35 a barrel.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell 3.5 basis points to 4.13%.

ETFs

Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) rose 0.3%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) edged up 0.15%, with Palantir stock the No. 1 holding. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed 0.3% with Nvidia stock the dominant holding.

ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) advanced 0.2% and ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) climbed 0.1%. Tesla stock is the No. 1 holding across ARK Invest’s ETFs.

SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) dipped 0.1%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) fell 0.3% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) climbed 0.5%. The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) rose 0.3%. The Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) gained 0.5%.

Megacaps In Buy Areas

Palantir stock edged up 4 cents to 194.17, holding in a buy zone since Friday’s breakout from a cup-with-handle base. The buy point is 190.39.

Nvidia stock fell 32 cents to 188.61 on Wednesday, but held above the 50-day line so is still actionable. Tuesday’s 3% gain pushed the AI chip giant above the 50-day for the first time in a month. The official consolidation buy point is 212.19.

Google stock edged down 0.1% to 314.09 on Wednesday, snapping a four-session win streak but still right on a downtrend in a short consolidation. GOOGL stock could have a flat base after next week.

Tesla stock fell 16 cents to 485.40, continuing to pause above a cup base and record highs. The official buy point is 474.07. Tesla stock has surged in recent months on self-driving buzz, with CEO Elon Musk continuing to predict unsupervised robotaxis in Austin, Texas, by year-end.

What To Do Now

Investors have a lot to be thankful for heading into the Christmas holiday. The stock market is essentially at record highs with broad leadership acting well.

Traditionally, the Santa Claus rally starts after Christmas. But trading will be thin until the first full week of 2026. Work on watchlists, which should include actionable stocks and setups from a wide variety of sectors.

Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.

Please follow Ed Carson on Threads at @edcarson1971 and X/Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.

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