Stocks Climb With Commodities as Gold Hits Record: Markets Wrap

It’s been a strong year for stocks and the big question is whether investors will carry that bullish mood into 2026.

Positioning in equities is rising and fund managers are maintaining record low levels of cash. Their expectations of a further rally are outweighing concerns over rich AI valuations. The Federal Reserve path is also being closely watched, with two US cuts priced for next year.

“While 2025 was a volatile year with April’s tariff-driven correction, we don’t think we’re out of the woods when it comes to volatility for 2026,” said Clark Bellin at Bellwether Wealth.

While Bellin expects the tech sector to continue its corrective phase, he bets a bottom will be achieved sometime in the next few months. He also sees the Fed refraining from any more rate cuts until there is a new chair mid-year, but says stocks can move higher during this time even without additional rate cuts.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5%. The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.16%. The dollar halted a three-day advance. Bitcoin climbed to around $90,000.

Oil rallied while gold and silver jumped to all-time highs amid geopolitical tensions.

Corporate Highlights:

• OpenAI has squeezed better margins out of its paid products this year, as it races to maintain its pole position in artificial intelligence, according to a report in The Information.

• Nvidia Corp. has told Chinese clients it aims to ship its second-most powerful AI chips to China by mid-February, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

• Netflix Inc. refinanced part of a $59 billion bridge loan with cheaper and longer-term debt, bolstering the financial package underpinning its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

• Paramount Skydance Corp. amended its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., including by offering a personal financial guarantee by Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison, as it seeks to beat out a rival bid from Netflix Inc.

• Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are each teaming up with Baidu Inc. to trial driverless taxis in the UK, as ride-sharing companies race to deploy autonomous services around the world.

• A group of private equity firms led by Permira and Warburg Pincus has agreed to acquire Clearwater Analytics Holdings Inc. in a deal valuing the investment and accounting software maker at $8.4 billion including debt.

• Cintas Corp. proposed a renewed takeover bid of UniFirst Corp. worth about $3.96 billion in equity in another attempt to buy out the rival uniform maker.

• Telecom Italia SpA’s board approved a proposal to convert the company’s savings shares into ordinary stock and to reduce its share capital, a long-delayed change that would simplify its capital structure.

• Roche Holding AG Chief Executive Thomas Schinecker said the new US drug deal signed last week could raise prices for some medicines in Switzerland.

• China Vanke Co., once the country’s biggest developer before it succumbed to an unprecedented property crisis, won last-minute support from creditors to extend a bond grace period in a reprieve that helps it avoid default, at least for now.

• Nippon Life Insurance Co. is studying further acquisition opportunities abroad after spending more than $12 billion on a string of deals a year ago, the company’s top executive said.

• Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. expects its 2025 net income to outpace the previous year’s, the company said in a filing Monday, putting it on track to post its first consecutive annual profit growth in a decade.