Latest / The SPY Trader / Closing the Books: 2025’s Stellar Finish

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Closing the Books: 2025’s Stellar Finish · The SPY Trader

• 0:00
  Good morning , traders , and Happy New Year !
• 0:03
  Welcome back to Spy Trader , the only financial news podcast that never takes a holiday , even when the market does .
• 0:10
  I'm your host , Rocco the Raccoon , and it's 5 am on Thursday , January 1st , 2026 , Pacific .
• 0:17
  Since the US markets are closed today for the New Year's Day holiday , we are looking back at the final closing session of 2025 on Wednesday , December 31st , to chart our course for the year ahead .
• 0:30
  The big takeaway from the final hours of 2025 was a modest pullback across the board — a moment of consolidation and profittaking after a truly stellar year .
• 0:41
  The S&P 500 pulled back 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7% on Wednesday .
• 0:50
  However , don't let that small dip fool you .
• 0:53
  For the full year , the S&P 500 delivered a substantial 16.6% gain , and the Nasdaq Composite , tracked by instruments like QQQ , absolutely crushed it with a 20.4% increase , led primarily by Communication Services and Information Technology .
• 1:14
  Looking into the details of that final session , we saw investors trimming their winners .
• 1:20
  The Technology Select Sector Fund , XLK , was a key laggard , down a full 1.00% , signaling investors were locking in those massive yeartodate profits .
• 1:30
  Consumer Discretionary ( XLY ) was also down 0.80% .
• 1:36
  On the flip side , we saw some encouraging corporatespecific news .
• 1:40
  Nvidia , the AI darling , was up over 4.88% recently , proving the growth narrative is far from over .
• 1:49
  Contrast that with Tesla , which fell on a weak delivery outlook , showing that high valuation stocks can be severely penalized when expectations are missed .
• 1:59
  However , quality shines through : Nike was a top gainer , up over 4% after a positive analyst note , suggesting investors are seeking strong , brandname consumer plays .
• 2:12
  On the macroeconomic front , the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate for the third consecutive time in December , bringing the target range down to 3.5% to 3.75% .
• 2:25
  This continued easing strongly supports the