The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq closed higher on Friday, with cloud infrastructure stocks boosting market sentiment. Oracle surged 7% after announcing a US joint venture with American investors. Chipmakers also performed well, contributing to the overall market rally. Higher bond yields affected stock gains, with Nov home sales up but consumer sentiment unexpectedly revised downward.

Stock market moves on Friday may have been volatile due to quarterly expiration events. The FOMC is discounting a 22% chance of a rate cut in the upcoming meeting. Overseas markets settled higher, with European bond yields rising. German PPI fell, while the GfK consumer confidence index dropped. ECB member Wunsch suggested interest rates may remain steady.

Cloud infrastructure and cryptocurrency-related stocks saw gains on Friday, with CoreWeave, Applied Digital, and Nebius Group NV leading the rally. Chip stocks like Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices also performed well. Whitefiber Inc surged following a co-location agreement announcement, while Carnival led the cruise stocks higher. FactSet Research Systems and Amphenol also closed higher.

Lamb Weston Holdings and Nike were among the top losers, with Lamb Weston forecasting lower net sales and Nike expecting revenue and margin declines. Homebuilders like KB Home and Conagra Brands also saw losses. Lyft Inc and Paychex closed lower after downgrades and softer earnings growth. Earnings reports were released for Barnes & Noble Education Inc and Rezolve AI PLC on 12/22/2025.

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