Post-Bell | U.S. Stocks Dip; Coupang Jumps 7%; Nvidia Rises 1%; Tesla Falls 2%; Sable Offshore Sinks 14%

Wall Street ended a light-volume post-Christmas session nearly unchanged on Friday, with few catalysts to fuel much conviction one way or the other.

Market Snapshot

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.19 points, or 0.04%, to 48,710.97, the S&P 500 lost 2.11 points, or 0.03%, to 6,929.94 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 20.21 points, or 0.09%, to 23,593.10.

Market Movers

Nvidia rose 1%. The chip maker entered into a nonexclusive agreement to license technology from Groq, an artificial-intelligence chip start-up, Groq announced on Christmas Eve. It isn't clear if Nvidia is taking an equity stake in the start-up.

Tesla fell 2.1% to $475.19. Shares of the electric-vehicle maker remain a few percentage points off $500 since hitting a record closing high of $489.88 on Dec. 16. The U.S. auto safety regulator is investigating allegations that the 2022 Tesla Model 3 mechanical door release is difficult to locate in an emergency.

Coupang gained 6.5% after the retailer announced findings from an internal investigation into a cybersecurity breach. A former employee downloaded the personal information of about 3,000 customers, but the data were deleted without being transferred to a third party, Coupang said. The breach has plunged the company, which serves tens of millions of customers in South Korea, into turmoil over the last month.

Nike stock was up 1.6%. The athletic apparel company was Wednesday's top stock in the S&P 500, climbing 4.6% after a regulatory disclosure showed that Apple CEO Tim Cook bought nearly $3 million worth of Nike shares. Cook is the lead independent director of Nike.

Micron Technology slipped 0.7%. Shares climbed 3.8% to a record closing high of $286.68 on Wednesday.

Lam Research was up 0.4% to $178.07, putting the chip-design company on pace to close at a record high. Shares have surged nearly 150% this year.

Apple fell 0.2%. China's imports of foreign-branded mobile phones, including the iPhone, rose 128% in November from the same month last year, Reuters reported, citing data from a Chinese government-affiliated research firm. Earlier this week, a federal judge denied a request by Masimo to block Apple Watch imports as part of a series of patent infringement disputes.

The largest mining stocks were on track for a strong day as silver prices neared a record high and gold and copper rose. Freeport-McMoRan, which mines gold and copper, jumped 2.2%, putting the stock for its 11th consecutive day of gains, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Southern Copper was up 0.9%, while gold and silver giant Newmont rose 1%.

Moderna stock dropped 4.7%. No particular piece of news seemed to be the culprit. The drugmaker has struggled since 2021, when it emerged as a leader in Covid-19 vaccines, and 2025 has been no exception. The stock is down 25% this year to its lowest levels since before the pandemic.

Sable Offshore stock tumbled 13.5%. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday aiming to block the restart of oil pipelines near Santa Barbara, Calif. Sable Offshore had received an emergency special permit from a Department of Transportation office earlier in the week approving the company's restart plan.

Market News

Nvidia, Joining Big Tech Deal Spree, to License Groq Technology, Hire Executives

Nvidia has agreed to license chip technology from startup Groq and hire away its CEO, a veteran of Alphabet's Google, Groq said in a blog post on Wednesday.

The deal follows a familiar pattern in recent years where the world's biggest technology firms pay large sums in deals with promising startups to take their technology and talent but stop short of formally acquiring the target.

Groq specializes in what is known as inference, where artificial intelligence models that have already been trained respond to requests from users. While Nvidia dominates the market for training AI models, it faces much more competition in inference, where traditional rivals such as AMD have aimed to challenge it as well as startups such as Groq and Cerebras Systems.

Target Faces Activist Investor Pressure Amid Sales Decline, FT Reports

Activist investor Toms Capital Investment Management (TCIM) has made a significant investment in Target, the Financial Times reported on Friday, intensifying pressure on the struggling retailer after years of lagging performance compared with its rivals.

The size of the stake was not disclosed, and the report did not specify what demands the New York–based firm may bring forward.

Target's shares rose 3.1% on the news. Its stock has lost more than 28% of its value this year after the Minneapolis-based chain posted three straight quarters of falling comparable sales. In August, the retailer appointed veteran company executive Michael Fiddelke to revive growth, as the business faces pressure from strained household budgets and tariff uncertainties.