S&P 500 posts third consecutive losing day as year-end approaches: Live updates

The three major averages ended Tuesday's trading modestly lower.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.14%, closing at 6,896.24, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.24% and settled at 23,419.08. The Dow Industrials fell nearly 95 points, or 0.2%, ending at 48,367.06.

—Darla Mercado

Stifel's Barry Bannister worries investors could be too optimistic heading into 2026, saying a fourth year of gains could be harder to come by.

The chief equity strategist expects the S&P 500 could end 2026 at a bear case of 6,500 or a bull case of 7,500, targets that imply the broad market index could fall 5.9% or rise 8.6% from Monday's close. The S&P 500 was last hovering around 6,900.

"What we'd be looking at is a range bound market," he told CNBC's "The Exchange" on Tuesday. "There's a lot of optimism going into next year, and we're just a little more cautious."

— Sarah Min

Consumers frustrated with the rising cost of living won't catch a break in their utility bills next year.

Residential electricity prices are expected to rise about 4% year over year on average nationwide in 2026, after climbing nearly 5% in 2025, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

The two-year price increase from 2024 to 2026 is expected come in around 9%, according to the EIA.

Rising utility bills sparked voter anger this year with Democratic candidates campaigning successfully on the issue in the recent New Jersey and Virginia governors' races.

Electricity costs are fueling a populist backlash against the AI data center boom. The backlash could come to head in 2026 with affordability expected to play a central role in the November mid-term elections.

— Spencer Kimball

The overwhelming bullishness among strategists on Wall Street for next year is worrying to Julian Emanuel of Evercore ISI.

"When we introduced our YE 2026 SPX PT of 7,750, we were comfortable being the highest PT on the Sell Side. Yet we are uneasy that for the first time in our memory, there is not one single Strategist making a Bearish call for 2026," the senior managing director wrote in a note dated Sunday.

"The only thing Investors Have to Fear is No Fear Itself," he added.

Emanuel's year-end 2026 price target for the S&P 500 implies almost 12% upside from Friday's closing price. He cited expectations for more developments on artificial intelligence, economic stimulus and earnings growth as catalysts for growth.

— Sean Conlon

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday released minutes from its highly divisive meeting earlier this month, which concluded with a vote to lower interest rates again that appeared to be an even closer call than the final vote indicated.

Officials expressed a variety of opinions during the Dec. 9-10 meeting, according to the summary provided a day ahead of its customary release due to the New Year's holiday.

Ultimately, the Federal Open Market Committee approved a quarter percentage point cut by a 9-3 vote, the most dissents since 2019 as officials debated over the need to support the labor market against concerns over inflation. The move lowered the key funds rate to a range of 3.5%-3.75%.

"Most participants judged that further downward adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate if inflation declined over time as expected," the document stated.

With that, though, came misgivings over how aggressive the FOMC should be in the future.

"With respect to the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, some participants suggested that, under their economic outlooks, it would likely be appropriate to keep the target range unchanged for some time after a lowering of the range at this meeting," the minutes said. Read more.

— Jeff Cox

On Tuesday, four stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week highs. Three of these names reached new all-time highs.

Stocks that hit this milestone were the following:

• Fox Corporation Class B trading at all-time highs back to its creation as the portion not acquired by Disney in 2019
• Exxon trading at levels not seen since Nov, 2024
• Nasdaq Inc trading at all-time high levels back to April 2003
• Micron trading at all-time highs back to IPO in June, 1984

Just one stock in the index traded at new 52-week lows: Pool Corp.

— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han

On Tuesday, the first five Truth Social exchange-traded funds launched on the New York Stock Exchange.

According to a press release, these funds are composed of securities "with a Made in America focus spanning diverse industries." Funds launched on Tuesday included the Truth Social American Security & Defense ETF (TSSD), the Truth Social American Icons ETF (TSIC) and the Truth Social American Red State REITs ETF (TSRS).

— Lisa Kailai Han

The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price's 20-city composite rose 1.3% year over year in October, according to data released Tuesday morning. Economists polled by FactSet anticipated a 1% rise on the year.

Nicholas Godec, head of fixed income tradables & commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, noted that 16 of the 20 cities saw home prices slide from September to October. He said elevated mortgage rates may finally be throwing cold water on demand.

"Short-term momentum has essentially stalled," Godec said in a release.

— Alex Harring

The S&P 500 was evenly split, with 229 advancers and 273 decliners during midday trading. The broader index was last little changed, up 0.05%.

— Sarah Min

Large-cap pharma stocks Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson have logged gains of roughly 40% in 2025, while Pfizer and Merck have lagged, with a decline of about 6% and a gain of more than 6%, respectively.

Lilly's gains, which catapulted its market cap to more than $1 trillion — a first for a health-care stock — have come on the back of its advancements in treating obesity. While its injectable Zepbound has been a massive success, 2026 is likely to bring Food and Drug Administration approval of orforglipron, its pill for weight loss. If all remains on schedule, the drug could be on the market by the second quarter.

Pfizer has lagged after pipeline disappointments, including in the weight loss space. Ultimately, it battled Novo Nordisk in a $10 billion bidding war for obesity drugmaker Metsera.

But a weight-loss drug isn't a guarantee for success as Novo Nordisk's 40% drop this year demonstrates. Also, it's not a requirement for success. J&J's gains have come on the back of the improved performance of its medtech business, which has seen new products come to market, and the planned spinoff of its orthopaedics unit. In early 2026, the company hopes to submit its Ottava surgical robot for FDA approval.

But BMO Capital Markets' Evan David Seigerman sees a turnaround ahead for Merck stock. He upgraded it to outperform earlier in December, saying: "Sometimes the best stories are yet to be written." Seigerman said there are numerous catalysts that could push Merck's stock higher next year. He expressed confidence that Merck will be able to replace 90% of the peak sales of Keytruda by the mid-2030s. The loss of exclusivity for the blockbuster immunotherapy drug, which is expected in late 2028, has been a huge overhang on Merck stock.

— Christina Cheddar Berk

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday afternoon will release meetings form its unusually divisive meeting earlier this month at which it approved a third consecutive quarter percentage point interest rate cut.

As Federal Open Market Committee meetings are not open to the public, the meeting summary will help provide insight into why the rate-setting panel approved the cuts as well as the thinking behind those who opposed. The committee approved the reduction by a 9-3 vote, the most dissents in six years.

With the three cuts approved, markets don't expect the Fed to move again until at least April.

— Jeff Cox

The three major averages began Tuesday's session little changed.

The S&P 500, along with the Nasdaq Composite, traded just below the flatline shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 47 points, or 0.1%.

— Sean Conlon

President Donald Trump launched a another verbal attack Monday against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling the central bank chief a "fool" and threatening to sue him for "gross incompetence."

With Powell's term set to expire in May, Trump said he would still like to fire him and said "Maybe I still might." Earlier this year, Trump tried to sack Governor Lisa Cook but thus far has been blocked by courts.

Trump specifically criticized Powell over the renovation project at Fed headquarters.

"So we're thinking about bringing a gross incompetence, what's called a gross incompetence lawsuit, it's gross incompetence, against Powell," Trump told reporters during a session with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I'd love to fire him," he added.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have been interviewing potential replacements for Powell. The president said he will name his nominee in January.

— Jeff Cox

Copper is on track for its biggest annual price rise in more than a decade, driven by supply disruptions, a weakening U.S. dollar, improving expectations for Chinese economic growth — and blockbuster spending on artificial intelligence.

Analysts say the red metal's rally could continue next year, particularly amid supply fears and a rapidly expanding global data center footprint.

Three-month copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded up 1.5% at $12,405 per metric ton on Tuesday, paring recent gains after notching a record high of $12,960 in the previous session.

The benchmark contract, which is up around 41% this year, is on pace for its best year since 2009, when it gained over 140% as countries emerged from the global financial crisis.

In New York, copper prices have soared more than 40% since the start of 2025, also putting it on track for its biggest annual jump since 2009, when the contract rose 137.3%. Read more.

— Sam Meredith

Check out the companies making the biggest moves premarket:

• Applied Digital — Shares rose more than 1% in the premarket after the company announced it would spin off its cloud business and combine it with Ekso Bionics. Shares of the latter company, which has a market cap of just $18.5 million, rallied 51%.
• Meta Platforms — The tech giant acquired Singapore-based startup Manus, which specializes in developing general purpose AI agents. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Read the full list here.

— Fred Imbert

Silver futures jumped 7% early Tuesday, continuing 2025′s rollercoaster ride for precious metals.

Silver futures for March delivery were up 7.2% to last trade at $75.53 an ounce at 7:25 a.m. Eastern time, bringing year-to-date gains to 158%. Read more.

— Elsa Ohlen

Bitcoin has fallen roughly 6% since the beginning of the year — a stunning reversal from its ascent to record highs at various points throughout 2025.

The token was last trading at $87,850, Coin Metrics data shows. Its losses have mounted over the past three months, with the cryptocurrency shedding 23% during that period.

Although Bitcoin is struggling to reclaim the $90,000 mark, it has recovered from its recent lows. The digital asset plunged to about $80,000 in late November, marking its lowest level in more than six months.

Bitcoin has largely been in the red since cascading liquidations of highly leveraged crypto positions kneecapped the digital assets market in mid-October. A few days before the liquidations, the token rallied to a new all-time high of a little more than $126,000.

— Liz Napolitano

Applied Digital rose more than 1% in the premarket after the company announced it would spin off its cloud business and combine it with Ekso Bionics. Shares of the latter company, which has a market cap of just $18.5 million, rallied 42.3%.

— Fred Imbert

The three major averages are on pace for double-digit gains in the year. The S&P 500 is on pace for a 17.4% advance, while the Nasdaq Composite is up more than 21% in 2025. The Dow Industrials are the laggard, up 13.9% on the year.

Within the broad market S&P 500, the communications services and information technology sectors are the top winners, up 32.5% and nearly 25% as the artificial intelligence trade enjoyed another hot year. Data storage play Western Digital is on pace for a nearly 300% surge in 2025, while Micron Technology has skyrocketed nearly 250%. Defense tech darling Palantir is toting a gain of more than 140%.

While all 11 sectors of the S&P 500 are positive year to date, real estate has been left in the dust. The sector is up just 0.5% in 2025, with some of the steepest declines belonging to Alexandria Real Estate Equities (off nearly 50%) and Iron Mountain (down 21%).

— Darla Mercado, Jason Gewirtz

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were relatively flat in after-hours trading on Monday, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up just 9 points, or 0.02%.

— Liz Napolitano