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U.S. stock index futures climbed on the first trading day of 2026, rebounding after Wall Street slipped in the final sessions of 2025, as improving sentiment and renewed risk appetite lifted equity markets.
The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite all delivered double-digit gains in 2025 — their third straight positive year, a run last seen between 2019 and 2021. The Dow also notched its eighth consecutive monthly advance, marking its longest winning streak since 2017–2018.
The broader rally was powered by strong demand for artificial intelligence–related stocks, which helped drive all three major indexes to record highs during the year. However, momentum faded toward the end of December, with the indexes declining across the final four sessions and bucking the typical “Santa Claus rally” pattern tracked by the Stock Trader’s Almanac.
The late-year pullback was led by technology shares, as investors repositioned portfolios for 2026 on expectations that earnings and growth leadership may broaden across sectors. By Friday, several megacap tech names steadied in premarket trade, with Nvidia up 1.8% and Broadcom rising 1.6%.
At 05:45 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 171 points, or 0.35%, S&P 500 E-minis gained 41.5 points, or 0.60%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis advanced 267 points, or 1.05%.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank cautioned against reading too much into the first day’s move, noting that in each of the past three years the S&P 500 began the year with a negative session but still went on to post double-digit annual gains.
Markets staged a sharp comeback in 2025 from the April selloff triggered by Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which rattled global assets and stoked uncertainty around the interest-rate outlook. Looking ahead, investors see the Federal Reserve’s policy trajectory as the key driver for markets in 2026, with recent economic data and expectations of a more dovish Fed chair reinforcing bets on further rate reductions.
A final reading of S&P Global’s economic activity survey is due later in the day, while next week’s labor-market data are expected to take center stage after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled in December that additional rate cuts would depend on clearer trends in employment.
In corporate news, U.S.-listed shares of Baidu jumped about 12% in premarket trading after the Chinese tech giant said its AI-chip subsidiary, Kunlunxin, had confidentially filed for a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange on January 1 — paving the way for a potential spin-off and separate listing.
