Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., Dec. 17, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stock futures rose Friday, the first trading day of 2026, as tech looked to build on its momentum from last year.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded 192 points higher, or 0.4%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.6%, and Nasdaq-100 futures popped 1%.
Friday’s gain marks a reversal from the first-day trading trend of the last few years. The S&P 500 finished lower on the first day of trading for each of the last three years. Going back to the 1950s, there is no discernible trend, with the first day finishing positive about 48% of the time, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
In the premarket, Nvidia shares rose more than 1%, while Palantir Technologies advanced more than 2%. Both artificial intelligence-related names were big winners in 2025, rising about 39% and 135%, respectively. Fellow tech stocks Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft also traded higher.
Tech was the best trade of 2025, leading the broader market to sharp gain as investors continued to pile into AI names. The S&P 500 gained more than 16% last year, marking its third straight annual advance. The Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 20% last year, and the Dow climbed around 13%. The three benchmarks hit record highs last year.
“It was a strong year overall thanks to continued economic growth, optimism around AI, and more central bank rate cuts,” Deutsche Bank strategists wrote. “However, those headline gains masked huge volatility, particularly in April when the Liberation Day tariff announcements sparked the 5th biggest two-day slump for the S&P 500 since WWII.”
Wall Street strategists expect more gains for the U.S. stock market in 2026. The CNBC Market Strategist Survey shows the average S&P 500 target for the year is 7,629, which implies upside of 11.4%.