A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Dec. 11, 2025.

Jeenah Moon | Reuters

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The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced on Thursday, with both hitting fresh closing records. The Russell 2000 index also ended the session at a new high, following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quarter-point cut on Wednesday.

But if investors analyze Thursday’s individual stock movements, they will see not all is well with the AI play yet. Oracle shares plunged nearly 11% after reporting on Wednesday weak quarterly revenue, dragging down AI-related names such as Nvidia and Micron.

In extended trading, Broadcom shares fell 4.5%. The chipmaker beat Wall Street’s expectations for earnings and revenue, but CEO Hock Tan appeared to have failed to address worries that their largest customer, Google, might eventually make more of its chips in-house. Rising memory prices would also pressure margins, while the company’s chip deal with OpenAI might not be binding.

That’s why the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.26% despite other major U.S. indexes hitting records. Putting the two together, that means investors are rotating out of tech into other parts of the market. The S&P 500 financials sector, for instance, closed at a fresh record, buoyed by jumps in Visa and Mastercard.

Even though the AI theme seems to be under scrutiny, other sectors are performing well on the back of a resilient U.S. economy — as signaled by Fed officials on Wednesday — and buoyed by interest-rate cut. So long as nothing throws a spanner in the works, looks like we’re all set for a happy holiday season.

— CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos contributed to this report.

What you need to know today

New records for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average notched fresh highs on Thursday, but the Nasdaq Composite, weighed down by Oracle, underperformed and fell. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.5% higher.

Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI. The media giant will also allow Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, to use its copyrighted characters, under a $1 billion licensing agreement. “We think this is a good investment for the company,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC.

SpaceX will launch IPO in 2026. Elon Musk confirmed the news in a post on X, which follows multiple articles last week about the firm’s plans to go public. Musk said over the weekend that reports of SpaceX’s $800 billion valuation were “not accurate.” 

Broadcom’s fourth-quarter results beat expectations. The chipmaker also saw its net income nearly double from a year ago, and issued a strong forecast for the current quarter on the back of AI demand. But shares slumped in extended trading.

[PRO] Where will Oracle go? Analysts are re-looking their price targets for Oracle stock after the firm released a disappointing and confusing earnings report on Wednesday.

And finally…

An undated editorial illustration of Indian rupee cash bills and a stock market indicator board.

Javier Ghersi | Moment | Getty Images

India’s $3.3 trillion opportunity for global fund houses

This year, the world’s largest fund house, BlackRock, launched multiple mutual fund schemes in India through Jio BlackRock, marking the U.S. firm’s reentry after its exit in 2018. The world’s fourth largest asset manager, State Street, is reportedly looking to buy a stake in an Indian fund house.

Accelerating financialization of Indian household savings is driving flows: as more retail investors participate in capital markets, the opportunities for asset managers to handle those funds are ballooning.

— Priyanka Salve

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