Bonds & Stocks
Gains in the S&P 500 today will seal the index’s longest monthly winning streak since August 2021, capping a rally that has withstood global trade tensions and geopolitical risks. The S&P 500 is poised to extend its winning run to a sixth month after Amazon.com Inc.’s blowout results fueled a rebound in stocks following a brief pause in the global rally. Futures on the US benchmark rose as Amazon jumped 12% in premarket trading, a move set to add nearly $300 billion to its market value after reporting the fastest cloud-unit growth in nearly three years. Apple Inc. also climbed on a revenue beat and upbeat holiday forecast. Nasdaq 100 contracts advanced 1.5%.
Economy
The US economy's growth is largely thanks to AI, with business investment in equipment and software soaring and data centers being a rare bright spot for US builders. AI spending and its spinoffs are impacting the economy, with investment in information-processing equipment and software providing a big boost to GDP growth, and the wealth effect from rising tech stocks leading to higher spending by US consumers. The AI boom's impact on the economy is expected to continue, with estimates suggesting it will contribute around 1 percentage point to growth in the first half of 2025 and potentially more in the future, although there are also concerns about the potential risks and downsides of the trend.
World
US President Trump has said he's instructed the Defense Department to start testing nuclear weapons "on an equal basis" with rivals such as Russia and China. It's unclear whether Trump means detonating nuclear warheads or a scale-up of testing weapons delivery systems, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, that can carry nuclear warheads. A return to explosive nuclear testing would reverse decades of American policy and violate a de facto global ban, and could potentially trigger another nuclear arms race and undermine decades of non-proliferation initiatives.