Market Snapshot for Friday September 26th, 2025
S&P 500 – 6,643.70 (+0.59%)
Dow Jones – 46,247.29 (+0.65%)
NASDAQ – 22,484.07 (+0.44%)
Market Performance
Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Bounce After Three-Day Slump, Yet End Week in the Red.
U.S. stocks managed a modest rebound on Friday, offering investors a temporary sigh of relief following three consecutive days of losses, even as the week ultimately closed with all major indexes slightly lower. The session was shaped by a mix of economic data, lingering concerns about consumer sentiment, and the latest trade measures from the Trump administration, providing Wall Street with a complex set of factors to digest.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) each gained roughly 0.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.4%. Friday’s uptick followed a sharp midweek retreat, yet despite the rally, the week ended with the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all posting minor losses of less than 1%.
Investors reacted positively to August’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which showed prices rising in line with expectations. The core PCE index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, increased 2.9% year over year and 0.2% month over month, confirming that inflation remains elevated but not exceeding forecasts. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan’s final September consumer sentiment survey painted a more cautious picture, with Americans expressing increased pessimism about the economy.
Adding to the market’s volatility, President Trump announced a new set of tariffs, including a potential 100% levy on imported branded pharmaceuticals for companies that do not manufacture within the U.S. Additional tariffs on heavy trucks and certain furniture categories are also scheduled to take effect on October 1. The announcement triggered drops in European and Asian drugmaker stocks, though some U.S. pharmaceutical shares, including Eli Lilly (LLY), Merck (MRK), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), still edged higher, benefiting from exemptions for firms already building domestic facilities.
Trade tensions were further highlighted by Trump’s approval of a deal to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations from China’s ByteDance, though Beijing’s sign-off is still required. The proposed $14 billion valuation surprised Wall Street, as some analysts believe the platform could be worth up to $40 billion globally.
Overall, Friday’s modest rally offered a respite for investors navigating sticky inflation, mixed consumer sentiment, ongoing trade tensions, and uncertainty around the AI sector and government funding. Despite the rebound, the week’s declines highlight that Wall Street remains in a cautious posture, balancing optimism over steady inflation with broader economic and geopolitical risks.
Economic Takeaways –
- Silver continued its sharp rally, climbing nearly 4% to $46.88 per troy ounce, approaching its 2011 peak. The precious metal has surged over 60% year-to-date, outpacing gold’s 46% gain, as investors seek safe-haven assets amid Fed easing and a softer dollar.
- Bond yields moved higher, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield at 4.17%, up from its early-September low of 4.0%.
- The U.S. dollar is weakening against major currencies.
- Core PCE inflation steady, headline ticks up – Core PCE inflation, which excludes food and energy, held at a 2.9% annual rate in August, matching estimates, while headline PCE inflation rose slightly to 2.7% year over year. Goods prices are up just 0.9% from a year ago, helping to offset faster-rising services prices of 3.6%. Shelter inflation remains at 3.9% annually, a key driver of elevated services costs.
- Unemployment remains relatively low at 4.3%, with 7.2 million job openings just under the 7.4 million unemployed, suggesting the labor market is cooling but not collapsing.
- Income and spending continue to rise – Personal income increased 0.4% month over month in August, ahead of expectations for 0.3%, while personal consumption expenditures climbed 0.6%, topping forecasts of 0.45%.
- Rate-cut odds tick higher – Following the latest PCE data, the CME FedWatch Tool put the odds of a Fed rate cut next month just below 88%, up from 85.5% a day earlier. Markets still price roughly a 61% chance of two cuts by year-end.
- Foreign investors now hold about 30% of their U.S. assets in equities, near record highs and above the long-term average.
Gold –
- The gold market is managing to hold on to gains above $3,750 an ounce, but it continues to face a wall of resistance.
- Spot gold last traded at around $3,750 an ounce, roughly unchanged on the day.
Oil –
- Oil prices rose on Friday as Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure cut the country’s fuel exports.
- Brent futures settled at $70.13 a barrel, up 71 cents, or 1.02%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude finished at $65.72 a barrel, gaining 74 cents, or 1.14%.
Crypto –
- Bitcoin (/BTC) dropped to a three-week low below $109,000 Thursday and extended losses Friday. The slump weighed on crypto-linked names: MicroStrategy (MSTR) fell nearly 7% and Coinbase (COIN) lost 4.7% Thursday, with both trading lower again early Friday.
- Analysts linked the weakness to a stronger-than-expected U.S. GDP print that pushed Treasury yields higher.
Trump Administration Moves to Secure U.S. Equity Stake in Nevada Lithium Mine Project
The White House is advancing a deal that would give the U.S. government a small equity stake in a Canadian company developing one of the world’s largest lithium mines in northern Nevada, officials said. The project, known as Thacker Pass, is being developed by Lithium Americas and includes both a mine and a processing facility located roughly 200 miles north of Reno.
The Department of Energy (DOE) and Lithium Americas have agreed on modifications to a $2.3 billion federal loan aimed at enabling the project to move forward. Lithium extracted from Thacker Pass will be used in electric vehicle batteries, supporting the transition to clean energy. General Motors has committed over $900 million to the development, which analysts estimate could yield enough lithium to produce about 1 million EVs per year.
The proposed U.S. equity stake in Vancouver-based Lithium Americas continues a broader pattern of the Trump administration taking direct positions in private companies. Recent examples include the government securing a 10% stake in Intel through conversion of previously granted funding, a $400 million investment in MP Materials to become the largest U.S. shareholder of the Las Vegas rare-earths miner, and a revenue-sharing arrangement giving the government a 15% cut from certain chip sales to China via Nvidia and AMD.
A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the stake in Lithium Americas would be “very small” — under 10% — and intended to act as a “cash buffer” for the company. Lithium Americas reportedly requested the restructuring of the DOE loan, which had initially been approved under the Biden administration, to facilitate further project development.
“Critical minerals like lithium are very important to boost the U.S. economy and restore domestic manufacturing,” the official said. “We’re trying to do this in a way that is fair to taxpayers. We don’t believe in free money.”
Lithium Americas declined to comment directly on the size of the government stake but confirmed it is in ongoing discussions with both the DOE and General Motors regarding the federal loan. In a company statement, Lithium Americas said the talks include “conditions precedent to draw on the DOE loan and associated loan specifics, as well as incremental requests from the DOE for potential further conditions” to access the funds.
Crypto Loses $300 Billion in Week’s Sharpest Selloff, Dragging Market Sentiment to Lowest Levels Since Summer
Cryptocurrencies suffered a staggering $300 billion wipeout this week as a wave of leveraged bets unraveled, hitting major tokens and pushing investor sentiment to its weakest point since early summer. The selloff highlighted both the volatility and structural fragility of the crypto market, where high conviction and thin liquidity can turn routine declines into dramatic swings.
Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, bore the brunt of the downturn, posting its steepest weekly loss since June. The token plunged roughly 12%, falling below the $4,000 mark—a key support level closely watched by traders. Bitcoin, the sector’s benchmark, was not immune, dropping about 5% over the week in its sharpest decline since March and settling near the lower boundary of its recent trading range.
Analysts said the selloff was largely driven by forced liquidations and technical pressures rather than a collapse in fundamentals. “Once the first wave of liquidations started, algos and funding pressures turned it into a feedback loop,” explained Ben Kurland, CEO of crypto research platform DYOR. “In crypto, conviction is high but liquidity is thin—which is why moves down feel like free falls, while recoveries grind back more slowly. This was less about fundamentals collapsing and more about the system cleansing excess risk.”
Top Gainers
Several stocks experienced significant gains. Some of the top gainers included:
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (CRNX) +27.92%
QMMM Holdings (QMMM) +19.40%
Electronic Arts (EA) +14.87%
Scholar Rock Holdings (SRRK) +12.35%
Perpetua Resources (PPTA) +11.37%
Top Losers
The top US stock losers today, based on percentage change included:
Concentrix Corp. (CNXC) -13.33%
MP Materials (MP) -11.02%
Kingsoft Cloud Holdings (KC) -10.48%
IREN Limited (IREN) -9.57%
Oklo, Inc. (OKLO) -7.22%
Notables
- Big Tech stocks struggled over the week. Amazon (AMZN) led the declines with a drop exceeding 4%, while Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) also recorded weekly losses. Microsoft (MSFT) fell more than 1%, whereas Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) managed modest weekly gains.
- Other notable moves included a surge in Electronic Arts (EA) shares after reports the video game company may go private in a record-setting $50 billion leveraged buyout. The stock jumped nearly 15% in afternoon trading, reflecting investor optimism over the deal, which involves private equity firm Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
- Boeing (BA) shares advanced, rising 4% after the Federal Aviation Administration cleared the company to resume final safety inspections on 737 Max jets and following new orders from Turkish Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Year-to-date, Boeing’s stock is up 25%, buoyed by both regulatory confidence and expanding commercial deals.
- Oracle extends slide as AI concerns weigh. Analysts cite profit-taking and skepticism over the company’s AI investments and a possible TikTok stake as key reasons for the pullback.
- Intel (INTC) gained more on Friday, building on Thursday’s 8.9% jump after Bloomberg reported Apple (AAPL) had approached the chipmaker about taking an equity stake.
- CarMax (KMX) tumbled after a sharp top- and bottom-line miss.
- Shares of Eli Lilly (LLY), Merck (MRK), and Pfizer (PFE) rose after President Trump announced 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, with carve-outs for firms building U.S. plants. Several large-cap drugmakers have already committed to expanding domestic production, fueling the rally.
- Paccar (PCAR) jumped after the Trump administration unveiled 25% tariffs on heavy trucks made outside the U.S. The company, which owns Peterbilt and Kenworth, manufactures about 90% of its U.S. trucks domestically, CNBC reported.
- Costco (COST) fell even after topping profit estimates. Same-store sales grew 6%, slightly below forecasts, and the retailer noted consumers remain “very choiceful” on discretionary spending, according to Yahoo Finance.
What to Watch Ahead
On Monday investors will watch for expected earnings from Carnival (CCL).
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