US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500 Rises 0.43%, Nasdaq Soars 0.37% On First Trading Day Of 2025

All three Wall Street indices opened on a positive note on Thursday, with the broader index, S&P 500, rising by 0.43% to 5,907.20 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite soaring 0.37% to 19,382.36 points.

The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.57% to 42,786.49 at the opening bell.

Stocks like Apple Inc. were down 1.88%, Boeing Co. fell 0.83%, and Walmart Inc. dipped 0.19%. Among the companies that rose in early trade were NVIDIA Corp., Amazon.com Inc., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Among the 11 S&P 500 sectoral indices, six were trading lower against the previous day's close. The loss was led by utilities, information technology, consumer discretionary, and communication, while energy, financials, materials, and real estate led the gain.

Stocks of Tesla Inc. fell in the early trade, its annual vehicle sales decline for the first time in over a decade, despite a year-end surge that resulted in record deliveries during the fourth quarter, according to Bloomberg.

US jobless claims totalled 211,000 for the week ending Dec. 28, compared to the estimated 221,000.

“At the beginning of the year, analysts tend to be pretty optimistic—you have pretty robust year-on-year earnings forecasts,” Daniel Morris, chief market strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management, told Bloomberg Television.

“Even if we don’t quite get, say, 20% earnings growth for Nasdaq, the way analysts might suggest, if it’s only 15, likely markets will do well,” he said.

As the US market opened, spot gold was higher 0.84% at $2,646.53, and Brent crude oil was trading 2.06% higher at $76.18.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index was changed slightly, with the British pound falling 0.9% to $1.2405 while the Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 156.69 per dollar.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, rose 2.3% to $96,966.01.