NEW YORK, United States — US stocks edged down from records on Friday amid holiday-thinned trading while precious metals extended their year-long surge to record highs.
Silver topped $75 an ounce for the first time while gold also pushed to a fresh record price. Geopolitical risk was elevated as US military and economic pressure on Venezuela persist.
Precious metals have surged in 2025 as uncertainty about US policy under President Donald Trump — and the prospect of further Federal Reserve interest rate cuts — have weakened the dollar. This reduced the greenback’s appeal to investors.
Major indices in New York moved sideways for much of a quiet, post-Christmas session. All three finished marginally lower. The Dow and S&P 500 were both slightly below Wednesday’s records.
‘Santa Claus rally’
But market watchers remain bullish ahead of next week’s finale to 2025. Stocks often rise in the peak festive period, sometimes yielding a “Santa Claus rally.”
“We’ve had a good week so with the weekend ahead, and also with the light trading for next week, possibly you had people who are just looking to take some profits,” said CFRA Research’s Sam Stovall. “But I still think that we’re going to end the year on a high note.”
Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Taipei all rose by closing time on Friday. Markets in Hong Kong, Australia and most of Europe were closed.
Oil prices, meanwhile, dropped more than two percent as markets looked ahead to a meeting Sunday between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on peace proposals.
But Russia signaled its skepticism ahead of the Florida talks. Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the Ukraine president and his EU backers of seeking to “torpedo” a US-brokered plan.
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