Market Roundup: What Happened Yesterday and What Awaits Us Today (January 12)

Record gains on Wall Street, coinciding with a rise in gold and oil amid calm expectations today

Major U.S. stock indexes ended trading last Friday at sharply higher levels, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index recording their highest-ever closing levels. The gains followed data showing that the U.S. unemployment rate fell more than expected in December.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8%, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.5%. For the week, the Dow gained 2.3%, the Nasdaq added 1.9%, and the S&P 500 rose approximately 1.6%.

The monthly jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the economy added 50,000 non-farm jobs in December, below expectations of 73,000 and also lower than the revised November figure of 56,000.

Despite the softer job creation, the unemployment rate fell to 4.4% from 4.6% in the previous month, beating forecasts of 4.5%.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury hovered around 4.17%, little changed from Thursday’s close.

In a separate development, the U.S. Supreme Court did not issue a ruling on Friday regarding the legality of President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs, a decision markets had been anticipating. The ruling is expected to either uphold the tariffs announced in April—referred to as the “Liberation Day” tariffs—or declare them illegal and cancel them, potentially ending nearly a year of uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy.

In commodities markets, West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 1.8% to $58.80 a barrel, coinciding with a meeting between oil executives and President Trump to discuss business opportunities in Venezuela. Gold futures also rose, gaining 1.3% to $4,515 an ounce.

In currency markets, Bitcoin traded near $90,200 with little change on the day, while the U.S. dollar index rose 0.2% to 99.13.

On the corporate front, shares of Oklo and Vistra jumped 8% and 10%, respectively. Vistra was among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500 after Meta Platforms announced it had signed what it described as strategic agreements with both companies, as well as with private firm TerraPower, to supply power for artificial intelligence projects.

Intel shares also ranked among the top performers on the Nasdaq, surging nearly 11% after President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he had concluded what he described as a successful meeting with the company’s CEO, Lip-Boo Tan.

By contrast, General Motors shares fell 2.7% after the automaker announced it expects to incur $6 billion in losses related to its electric vehicle business. U.S.-listed shares of mining giant Rio Tinto declined 3.7% following the resumption of merger talks with Glencore, whose shares rose about 10% in London trading.

In the large-cap technology sector, Alphabet and Apple shares rose 1% and 0.1%, respectively. Alphabet overtook Apple to become the world’s second-largest company by market capitalization, behind Nvidia, with a valuation just under $4 trillion.

Market Outlook

Looking ahead to today’s session, markets are likely to open on a cautiously positive note, supported by the record closing momentum of major indices and the stability of U.S. bond yields. However, gains may be limited by ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Supreme Court’s pending tariff decision, as well as investor sensitivity to any abrupt moves in bond yields or energy prices.

Technology and energy stocks are expected to remain in focus, while overall market activity may be relatively subdued in the absence of new economic catalysts.