Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Tread Caution As Market Reopens After Christmas Break: Why NVDA, AG, SOUN Are On Traders' Radar Today

Trading volumes are expected to remain thin after the holiday.

• Nvidia has announced its biggest acquisition to date: buying assets from the nine-year-old chip startup Groq for an estimated $20 billion.
• Retail sentiment on Stocktwits turned increasingly bullish on SPY and QQQ amid light holiday volumes.
• With no key economic data on the calendar, trading volumes are expected to remain thin today. 

U.S. stock futures are signaling a tepid start to trading on Friday, as Wall Street returns from the Christmas holiday with major indexes near all-time highs.

The Dow Jones reached a new record high, and the S&P 500 secured a second consecutive record close, during Wednesday's shortened pre-holiday trading session. Friday will see a full trading session, and volumes are likely to remain light. 

As of 3:00 a.m. ET on Friday, Nasdaq 100 futures, S&P 500 futures were flat, while the Dow futures fell 0.1% and the Russell 2000 futures were down 0.2%.

On Stocktwits, however, retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, had moved to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ a day ago. While sentiment toward the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, has flipped to ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish’ on Wednesday, amid high message volumes.

Trending Stocks To Watch

Nvidia (NVDA): Stock will be in the spotlight today after it disclosed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with AI inference startup Groq, involving a $20 billion cash payment and hiring of Groq’s top leadership to boost its real-time AI capabilities.

First Majestic Silver (AG), Pan American Silver (PAAS): Silver futures have surged to an all-time high of over $75 per ounce, sparking sustained interest in miners. 

SoundHound AI (SOUN): Voice AI stock has underperformed larger AI peers in 2025, drawing heavy retail interest after an analyst upgrade. Traders will also be watching for developments at the CES event slated for early January.

Micron (MU): This stock is trending as a top ‘Strong Buy’ pick for 2026, with analysts pointing to a robust recovery in the memory chip market fueled by AI server demand.

Palantir (PLTR): Also dominating conversation as a ‘must-own’ AI infrastructure play for 2026.

Walmart (WMT): CICC initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and $125 price target on Thursday. 

Other noteworthy tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing were Omeros Corp (OMER), Intel Corp (INTC), Oklo Inc (OKLO), and Tesla (TSLA). 

No major scheduled economic data or Fed speakers are due on Friday. 

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