The first full week of trading in 2026 was another hectic one as a number of important news releases were made public. Perhaps the most consequential were the December jobs reports that came out on Wednesday and Friday mornings. The release of the ISM Manufacturing PMI, ISM Services PMI and JOLTS reports also created some volatility.

On Monday, the ISM Manufacturing PMI came in at 47.9, which was lower than the expected 48.3. It was also lower than last month’s reading of 48.2. Regardless, the number indicates that the sector is in a period of contraction, which meshes well with some of the other data points that came out later in the week.

On Wednesday, the ADP released its version of the nonfarm payroll report, and it found that 41,000 jobs were added in December compared to an expected 49,000. November’s reading was revised upward from a loss of 32,000 jobs to a loss of just 29,000 jobs. However, the sluggish December figure was seen as a surprise considering that employers typically ramp up hiring before Christmas.

The ISM Services PMI came in at 54.4 compared to an expected 52.2 and last month’s figure of 52.6. This was the one bright spot of the week and implies that consumers are still willing to spend money.

Finally on Wednesday, the JOLTS employment report found that there were 7.15 million open positions in the United States. This was compared to an expected 7.61 million positions and 7.42 million positions available in November. These figures may indicate that employers are opting to leave open positions vacant as opposed to trying to replace those who have been let go in recent months.

On Thursday, the unemployment claims data came out and revealed that 208,000 people requested benefits over the past seven days. That is slightly lower than the 213,000 requests analysts had expected prior to the release.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that the economy added 50,000 jobs in December compared to an expected 66,000. It was thought that recent Fed rate cuts would help to spur hiring. After the report came out, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he would be cautious regarding future cuts. The unemployment rate ticked down 0.2 percent from November to 4.4 percent.

The S&P 500 was up 1.1 percent this week to close at 6,966, and this was a gain of almost 76 points for an index poised to top 7,000 for the first time ever. For the week, the index made its low of 6,895 just after Monday’s open and closed near its weekly high on Friday.

The Dow Jones closed the week up 1.81 percent higher to finish at 49,504 on Friday afternoon. This was a gain of more than 800 points over the last five days. As with the S&P 500, the Dow made a low of 48,650 on the open Monday and finished near its weekly high on Friday.

The Nasdaq was up 1.3 percent this week to close at 25,766. This was a gain of 331 points for the group of stocks that looks to pick up where it left off last year as the top performing major American index.

In international news, Australia announced Tuesday night that inflation was flat in November and was 3.4 on an annualized basis. Canada announced on Friday that its economy added 8,200 new jobs in December. It also announced that the nation’s unemployment rate rose 0.1 percent to 6.8 percent.

The upcoming week is sure to be another interesting one as oil markets continue to react to Trump’s actions in Venezuela. Gold and silver markets should also continue to see volatility as new leverage rules impact trading strategies. Inflation data will be released on Tuesday while retail sales and price producer index (PPI) figures come out on Wednesday.

On Monday, pending home sale data was made public, and over the past month, there was an increase of 3.3 percent in those sales. This may be due to mortgage rates falling to levels not seen in recent years, which has caused buyers to pounce while they have a chance to keep their payments at an affordable level. There has also been a slowdown in home price increases in several parts of the country, which had created more flexibility in the market.

An increase in home sales is a good sign for the economy because it generally means a series of additional consumer purchases are on the way. For instance, a homeowner will likely buy furniture, appliances or materials to upgrade their property. This can also be good news for contractors and other service providers who help maintain or improve homes.

On Tuesday, the main event of the week came in the form of the FOMC meeting minutes for December. During that meeting, the Federal Reserve decided to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, and the minutes from that gathering show that there are likely to be more cuts in the future. However, the minutes also showed that voting members were torn as to how many cuts should occur and when they may take place.

This is partially because there are two schools of thought as it relates to inflation caused by our current tariff policy. There are also questions about the quality of the data that is being distributed as impacts are still being felt from the government shutdown in late 2025.

Fortunately, there was no question about the accuracy of the final weekly unemployment claims for 2025. The last week of December saw 199,000 requests for benefits, which was about 20,000 fewer than expected and about 15,000 fewer than reported last week.

Trading was relatively slow this week, but the markets were open and did make some moves over the final days of 2025. The S&P 500 was down 0.72 percent to finish the week at 6,858. For the week, the index made a high of 6,911 on Monday morning and a low of 6,858 on Friday.

The Dow was down about 0.6 percent this week, which was a loss of 290 points. This week, the index made a high of 48,640 on the open of Monday’s session and a low of 47,917 on Friday morning.

Finally, the Nasdaq was down 1.55 percent this week to finish at 25,206, which was a loss of 397 points. Over the last five trading days, the index opened the week at its high of 25,590 and made a low of 25,109 on Friday.

Next week will be a jobs report Friday as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announces the employment figures for December. The ADP version of this report will come out on Wednesday. The BLS projects that the economy added 57,000 jobs in the final month of 2025. The University of Michigan will be releasing consumer sentiment and inflation expectation data on Friday as well. Finally, the ISM Manufacturing PMI and ISM Services PMI will also be released next week.