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2025 was a record year for dividends, with S&P 500 companies paying out $78.92 per share, up 5.5% YoY, to a tally of $46.4 billion. The increase marked the 16th straight year of dividend growth for the broader market index.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has given a nod to Elon Musk, reportedly calling Tesla’s (Nasdaq: TSLA) autonomous vehicle stack is the “most advanced” on the planet. Yesterday Huang unveiled Nvidia’s plans for a native AI-powered autonomous driving technology, pitting it up against Musk’s company. Tesla stock is tacking on 1% today.
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The markets came out of the gate mixed this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite lagging behind the broader markets for the time being. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is on pace for its latest record session while the S&P 500 is also gaining ground. Tech stocks Broadcom (Nasdaq: AVGO | AVGO Price Prediction) and AMD (Nasdaq: AMD) are under pressure in the session, shaving off 1.7% and 3.3% from their market caps, respectively.
Tech leaders Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) and Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) are backing Elon Musk’s xAI platform, which raised $20 billion in a Series E funding round, topping its $15 billion target. The latest raise buoys Big Tech support as xAI continues to scale its AI platform.
The labor market is sending signals of optimism. Private-sector hiring flipped positive in December, though the pace was softer than expected. ADP reported that companies added 41,000 jobs for the month, marking a rebound from November’s loss of jobs and snapping a stretch in which payrolls were on the decline.
Here’s a look at where things stand as of morning trading:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 49,487.62 Up 24.54 (+0.06%)
Nasdaq Composite: 23,596.92 Up 54.34 (+0.23%)
S&P 500: 6,954.11 Up 9.29 (+0.12%)
JPMorgan analysts have turned increasingly bullish on Alphabet’s (Nasdaq: GOOGL) Google, boosting its projections for Google’s TPU yet again amid robust demand indicators for 2026 and 2027.
Cantor Fitzgerald analysts have reemphasized their bullish “overweight” rating on CrowdStrike Holdings (Nasdaq: CRWD) stock, on its “top pick” list, with a $590 price target attached.
Jefferies analysts have turned cautious on Sandisk Corp (Nasdaq: SNDK) stock, warning about market share in a competitive NAND field from the likes of YMTC.
Index provider MSCI has agreed to keep Bitcoin and cryptocurrency treasury companies in its market indices for the time being. This decision overrides previous plans to remove digital assets from its indices. In response, Michael Saylor posted that Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) ” will remain in MSCI indexes,” sending the stock higher to recoup recently lost ground.
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Gerelyn Terzo is the author of dividend investing handbook "Dividend Investing Strategies: How to Have Your Cake & Eat It Too." A veteran financial journalist, she covers agri-finance for outlets like Global AgInvesting and the broader stock market and personal finance for 24/7 Wall Street. She began at CNBC and later helped launch Fox Business in New York. Gerelyn currently resides in Woodland Park, Colorado and dabbles in nature photography as a hobby.
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