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Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow Futures Gain As Jobs Data Weighs On Outlook—Lennar, Micron Technology, Children's Place In Focus

Benzinga·12/17/2025 10:39:52
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U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday after Tuesday’s mixed close. Futures of major benchmark indices advanced.

November's delayed and distorted jobs report, released on Tuesday, failed to provide clarity, widening the divide among Wall Street economists debating whether the rise to 4.6% unemployment signals a controlled cooling or the start of a “hiring recession.”

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.16% and the two-year bond was at 3.50%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing an 80.1% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged.

Futures Change (+/-)
Dow Jones 0.23%
S&P 500 0.33%
Nasdaq 100 0.37%
Russell 2000 0.30%

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.21% at $680.28, while the QQQ advanced 0.23% to $613.15, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Stocks In Focus

Lennar

  • Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN) was 3.78% lower after reporting mixed financial results for the fourth quarter after the market closed on Tuesday. It reported fourth-quarter revenue of $9.37 billion, beating analyst estimates of $9.02 billion.
  • LEN maintained a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor quality ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings for LEN.

Micron Technology

  • Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) shares jumped 3.36% in premarket ahead of its earnings after the closing bell. Analysts expect earnings of $3.93 per share on revenue of $12.81 billion.
  • It maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a moderate value ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings for MU.

Children's Place

  • Children's Place Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) slumped 32.11% posting worse-than-expected third-quarter financial results. The company reported quarterly losses of 18 cents per share compared to the analyst consensus estimate of 70 cents per share.
  • Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that PLCE maintains a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor growth ranking. Additional performance details are available here.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings for PLCE.

Paranovus Entertainment Technology

  • Paranovus Entertainment Technology Ltd. (NASDAQ:PAVS) declined 3.91% after it announced that it will execute a 1-for-100 reverse share split of Class A ordinary shares effective at market open on Thursday.
  • PAVS maintains a weaker price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor growth ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings for PAVS.

Aditxt

  • Aditxt Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTX) surged 38.03% following the company's filing of a definitive proxy statement for a special stockholder virtual meeting scheduled for Jan. 30, 2026.
  • Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings shows that ADTX maintains a weaker price trend over the short, long, and medium terms. Additional information is available here.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings for ADTX.

Cues From Last Session

On Tuesday, the Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication Services sectors posted gains, while the Energy, Health Care, Real Estate, Financials, Industrials, Consumer Staples, Utilities, and Materials sectors all declined.

Index Performance (+/-) Value
Nasdaq Composite 0.23% 23,111.46
S&P 500 -0.24% 6,800.26
Dow Jones -0.62% 48,114.26
Russell 2000 -0.45% 2,519.30

Insights From Analysts

Jeremy Siegel anticipates a supportive shift in the economic landscape driven by a dovish Federal Reserve and a broadening stock market rally.

He views the Fed’s recent signals as the “effective end of quantitative tightening,” creating a liquidity backdrop that has “historically been supportive for risk assets.” Consequently, he expects the Fed funds rate to eventually settle in the “low 3s.”

Economically, Siegel characterizes the current environment as a “no-hire, no-fire” economy; while firms are not aggressively laying off workers, they are also reluctant to hire. His “base case” remains that the economy “avoids recession.”

Regarding equities, Siegel expects a “market rotation” where leadership moves beyond tech giants. He warns that the performance bar for AI mega-caps is now “extraordinarily high” and predicts that “non-Magnificent-7 and non-tech sectors” will begin to benefit from improving margins and lower rates.

Ultimately, he views this normalizing yield curve as a “healthy backdrop for equities.”

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on Wednesday;

  • Fed governor Chris Waller will speak at 8:15 a.m., New York Fed President John Williams will speak at 9:05 a.m., and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will speak at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Commodities, Gold, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 2.52% to hover around $56.52 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.40% to hover around $4,319.87 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $4,381.6 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.41% higher at the 98.5470 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.13% higher at $86,549.32 per coin.

Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, as India’s NIFTY 50 and Australia's ASX 200 indices fell, whereas Hong Kong's Hang Seng, China’s CSI 300, South Korea's Kospi, and Japan's Nikkei 225 indices rose. European markets were higher in early trade.

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