MARKET SNAPSHOT
U.S. stocks fell to close the week, led by an 11% decline in Broadcom. U.S. Treasury yields ended slightly higher, and the 10-year yield rose on the week despite a Fed meeting Wednesday that was not quite as hawkish as some investors expected. Crude futures posted back-to-back losses. Gold settled up for a second consecutive session. The U.S. dollar strengthened.
MARKET WRAPS
EQUITIES
Stocks stumbled to end the week with the Nasdaq composite dragged lower by a drop in Broadcom shares.
Renewed concerns about the artificial-intelligence boom have weighed on technology stocks. After Oracle shares plunged on Thursday, Broadcom came into focus, with its stock sliding 11% on Friday. The chip maker's earnings sparked questions about its sales forecasts, contract backlog and anticipated future margins.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.5%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.1%. The Nasdaq composite dropped about 1.7%.
Broadcom suffered its largest one-day market cap loss on record, shedding $219 billion, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Only Nvidia, Apple and Meta Platforms have lost more market value on a single day.
For the week, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both lost ground, while the Dow stayed in the green, bolstered by the Federal Reserve's interest-rate cut on Wednesday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks also finished the week higher after hitting a record Thursday.
Markets in Asia ended higher on Friday.
China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4%, the Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.7%, and the ChiNext Price Index increased 1.0%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.7%.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average increased 1.4%.
Stocks in Australia gained, as the S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index rose 1.2%.
New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 Index added 0.1%.
COMMODITIES
Crude futures posted back-to-back losses and ended the week lower as persistent concerns about oversupply weighed and efforts toward a Russia-Ukraine peace deal subtracted geopolitical premium.
The week saw the IEA trim its surplus estimates, OPEC stick to its demand outlook, and a U.S. crude stock draw, while reaction to the U.S. seizing a sanctioned tanker off Venezuela was fairly muted.
"The energy markets are continuing to see a sideways, bouncy trading range, with crude consolidating in very tight quarters," said Phil Flynn of the Price Futures Group. "It's almost as if nothing can shake the oil market out of this trading range for those anticipating a glut."
WTI settled down 0.3% at $57.44 a barrel for a 4.4% loss on the week. Brent fell 0.3% to $61.12 a barrel, down 4.1% from a week ago.
Front-month Comex gold for December delivery rose 0.3% to $4300.10 a troy ounce, the second highest close in history.
Silver fell 4.0% to $61.362 a troy ounce, snapping a three-session winning streak.
Gold and silver both posted gains for the week.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Trump Says He Is Leaning Toward Warsh or Hassett to Lead the Fed
WASHINGTON-President Trump said he was leaning toward choosing either former Fed governor Kevin Warsh or National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett to lead the Federal Reserve next year.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in the Oval Office on Friday, the president said Warsh was at the top of his list. "Yes, I think he is. I think you have Kevin and Kevin. They're both-I think the two Kevins are great," he said. "I think there are a couple of other people that are great."
Hassett has been increasingly viewed as the front-runner after Trump repeatedly teased in recent weeks that he had settled on his choice to lead the Fed, but Trump's comments suggest Warsh remains solidly in contention.
Fed Officials Spar Over Whether Rate Cuts Risk Credibility on Inflation
Federal Reserve officials reinforced Friday why this week's rate cut was so contentious. In public comments, one argued that the central bank had room to keep cutting if the labor market softens, and others warned that rate cuts could threaten the Fed's hard-won work on inflation.
The central bank voted 9-3 Wednesday to cut its benchmark rate by a quarter point, to a range between 3.5% and 3.75%. Two voters favored no cut, and one preferred a larger reduction. It was the first time since 2019 that three policymakers had formally dissented.
One of this week's dissenters, Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid, said Friday morning he opposed cutting rates because he doesn't see evidence that interest rates are putting downward pressure on inflation by slowing economic activity, on balance.
Wall Street Is Having One of Its Best Years Ever
Executives from the biggest banks in the country said this week that they were on track to end a bumper year for Wall Street operations on a high.
Leaders from JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup shared early glimpses of fourth-quarter results during the Goldman Sachs Financial Services conference this week. Overall, their investment bankers are poised to have their best year since 2021, and their markets divisions are on pace for one of their best years ever, according to estimates by The Wall Street Journal based on executives' commentary.
The topsy-turvy year resulted in strong demand for the banks' trading and markets services, while dealmaking surged with an uptick in mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings of stock. Banks have already posted strong results for the first nine months, largely on the backs of their Wall Street operations.
China's Next Play in AI Race? Faster, Easier IPOs
Beijing's bid for AI supremacy has been hobbled by a reliance on imported semiconductors. To fix that, it is tapping homegrown startups as it looks for the DeepSeek of chip making.
There is no shortage of promising candidates but most are unprofitable, and they will need to spend heavily to close the gap on foreign-made chips.
Chinese companies' access to advanced accelerators is a critical bottleneck, Macquarie analysts said. The U.S. holds 75% of the world's computational power, China has just 15%, they added, citing data from research institute Epoch AI.
Wealthfront IPO: Stock Gets a Bump, but Not a Pop in Trading Debut
Wealthfront just became the first publicly traded robo-advisor.
Shares of the wealth management company opened at $14 and moved higher in Friday afternoon trading, ending the day at $14.19 per share, a 1.36% increase. Wealthfront priced its initial public offering at $14 a share. It's valued at about $2.7 billion based on today's closing price.
Wealthfront shares rose despite a selloff in the broader stock market. The S&P 500 ended the day down 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.7%.
Broadcom Stock Tumbles After Earnings. Why Its Booming AI Business Was an Issue.
Broadcom posted better-than-expected earnings for its October quarter late Thursday, but the stock was trading lower Friday. The market is fretting about the pace of growth in its artificial-intelligence chip business and its effect on margins.
Broadcom's semiconductors compete in several categories, including networking, broadband, server storage, wireless, and industrial. The company is also a leader in the market for high-end AI application-specific integrated circuits, or AI ASICs.
The AI chip business is the major motor of Broadcom's growth at the moment. The company expects its current quarter AI semiconductor revenue to double year-over-year to $8.2 billion.
Expected Major Events for Monday
00:00/SKA: Nov Revised trade data
01:30/CHN: Nov House Price Index
02:00/CHN: Nov Fixed Assets Investment
02:00/CHN: Nov Retail sales
02:00/CHN: Nov Industrial Output
04:30/JPN: Oct Tertiary Industry Index
04:30/JPN: Oct Revised Retail Sales
08:00/HK: Nov Hong Kong port container throughput monthly estimates
08:30/HK: 3Q Quarterly Index of Industrial Production & Quarterly Producer Price Indices for Manufacturing Industries
08:30/HK: 3Q Gross National Product & External Factor Income Flows
08:30/HK: Oct External Merchandise Trade: Volume & Price Statistics
09:59/PHI: Oct Overseas Filipino Workers Remittances figures
09:59/CHN: Nov FDI Foreign Direct Investment
20:00/NZ: Nov REINZ Residential Market Report
20:00/NZ: Nov REINZ Monthly Housing Price Index
21:45/NZ: Nov Selected Price Index
22:00/AUS: Dec Australia Flash PMI
00:00/AUS: Dec Westpac - Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Survey
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 14, 2025 16:30 ET (21:30 GMT)
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