US STOCKS-Wall Street slips as tech continues to weigh, but nears annual gains

By Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma

Dec 31 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes inched lower in the final trading session of 2025, but approached a positive end to a roller-coaster year dominated by President Donald Trump's tariff uncertainties and a euphoria around AI-focused stocks.

The S&P 500 .SPX, Dow .DJI and Nasdaq .IXIC were on track to log double-digit gains this year. It would mark their third consecutive year in the green, a run last seen during 2019-2021.

The S&P 500 and the Dow are set to close their eighth month on the trot in the green, their longest streak since 2017. The rally was bolstered by an insatiable appetite for artificial intelligence stocks that pushed all three indexes to record highs this year.

On the day, tech stocks .SPLRCT led broader declines, slipping 0.1%. Microsoft MSFT.O and Apple AAPL.O were the biggest weights, down 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.

"I do not expect that the last few days will have so much bearing on the performance of the next year, it's perfectly fine in any bull market to have moments of cost," said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity, pointing to profit-taking opportunities when liquidity was low.

At 12:00 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 116.75 points, or 0.24%, to 48,243.94, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 16.15 points, or 0.23%, to 6,880.09 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 46.38 points, or 0.20%, to 23,372.70.

Wall Street is looking at a fourth consecutive session of losses - an anomaly given expectations for a year-end "Santa Claus rally", when the S&P 500 typically gains over the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Bellwether chipmaker Nvidia NVDA.O - up about 40% year-to-date - has been one of the many AI trade beneficiaries, becoming the first publicly traded company to hit a $5 trillion market capitalization.

The communication services index .SPLRCL emerged as the top performer on the S&P 500 this year, powered by an over 65% jump in Alphabet GOOGL.O, nearing its best yearly performance since 2009.

Storage chip makers such as Micron Technology MU.O, Western Digital WDC.O and Seagate STX.O are set to outperform their S&P 500 peers, having more than tripled in value in 2025.

On the flip side, FMC Corp FMC.N and Fiserv FISV.O lagged peers, down 71% and 67%, respectively, for the year.

Wall Street made a stellar comeback from April's lows when Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs sparked a meltdown in global markets, sent investors away from U.S. stocks and threatened growth by clouding the interest rate outlook.

The Federal Reserve's monetary policy trajectory will set the tone for global markets in 2026, after recent economic data and expectations of a new dovish Fed chair prompted investors to price in further reductions.

Among stocks, Nike NKE.N gained 4% after CEO Elliott Hill bought its stock for about $1 million.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals VNDA.O surged 27% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug for the prevention of motion-induced vomiting.

Trading volumes remained thin in the holiday-shortened week, with markets closed on Thursday for New Year's Day.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.77-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.87-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 2 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 158 new lows.