Post-Bell｜Wall Street Ends Year's Final Session Lower; Ondas Up 9%; DJT Up 5%; TSMC Up 1%; AGQ Down 15%; NIO Down 7%

01 Stock Market

Wall Street's major indexes ended lower in the final trading session of 2025, but notched big annual gains after 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 posted double-digit gains this year, their third consecutive year in the green, a run last seen during 2019-2021.

The U.S. major indexes closed as follows: the Dow Jones down 0.63% at 48,063.29, the S&P 500 down 0.74% at 6,845.50, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.76% at 23,241.99.

Unusual-move stocks: Nvidia (NVDA) down 0.55% at $186.50; Apple (AAPL) down 0.45% at $271.86; Amazon (AMZN) down 0.74% at $230.82; Alphabet (GOOG) down 0.24% at $313.80; Meta (META) down 0.88% at $660.09; AMD (AMD) down 0.55% at $214.16; Micron (MU) down 2.47% at $285.41; Tesla (TSLA) down 1.04% at $449.72. Levered tech funds retreated: SOXL down 3.76% at $42.03; TQQQ down 2.55% at $52.72; SPY down 0.74% at $681.92; QQQ down 0.83% at $614.31. Precious metals proxies weakened: GLD down 0.65% at $396.31; SLV down 6.61% at $64.42; AGQ down 14.84% at $155.12. Bright spots included TSMC (TSM) up 1.44% at $303.89; Ondas (ONDS) up 8.57% at $9.76; DJT up 5.33% at $13.24.

Popular U.S.-listed Chinese EV and internet names were generally weaker, with NIO (NIO) down 7.27% at $5.10, XPeng (XPEV) down 4.70% at $20.28, and NetEase (NTES) down 2.01% at $137.62. Alibaba (BABA) fell 0.53% at $146.58; JD.com (JD) down 0.03% at $28.70; PDD (PDD) down 0.39% at $113.39. Semiconductor exposure was mixed: Intel (INTC) down 1.07% at $36.90, while TSMC rose as noted. Crypto-linked names softened: Coinbase (COIN) down 2.36% at $226.14; MicroStrategy (MSTR) down 2.35% at $151.95.

02 Other Markets

U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell by 0.00%, latest at 4.15.
USD/CNH rose 0.0000%, at 6.99.
U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.0000%, at 98.27.
WTI crude futures fell 0.93%, at 57.41 USD/bbl; COMEX gold futures fell 1.24%, at 4,332.10 USD/oz.

03 Top News

Washington Grants TSMC Annual Approval For US Chipmaking Tool Shipments To China

The U.S. government has granted an annual license to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to import U.S. chip manufacturing equipment to its facilities in Nanjing, China, the chipmaker said on Thursday.

The approval "ensures uninterrupted fab operations and product deliveries," the company said in a statement to Reuters.

TSMC joins South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix 000660.KS in gaining approval for shipments of U.S. chipmaking tools to China.

Berkshire Falls On Buffett's Last Day As CEO, Gained 6,100,000% Over 60 Years

Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N shares closed slightly lower on Warren Buffett's final day as chief executive, with the legendary investor set to hand the reins to Greg Abel on Thursday.

The price of Berkshire Class A shares edged down $600, or 0.1%, to $754,800 on Wednesday, while the Class B share price fell $1.06, or 0.2%, to $502.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX fell 0.7%.

Investors fortunate enough to own Berkshire since 1965, when Buffett took over, realized a return of about 6,100,000%, far above the S&P 500's approximately 46,000% return including dividends.

Trump Media unveils plan to distribute new cryptocurrency to shareholders

Trump Media and Technology Group DJT.O said on Wednesday it will distribute a new digital token to its shareholders, deepening its push into digital assets as policy support for cryptocurrencies builds in Washington.

Shares of the company linked to U.S. President Donald Trump, which operates his social media platform Truth Social, were last up 5% in early trading.