*

Indexes down: Dow 0.19%, S&P 500 0.15%, Nasdaq 0.12%

*

All three indexes set for yearly gains

*

Nike ( NKE ) up after CEO Hill buys stock worth $1 mln

*

Vanda Pharma jumps after US FDA approves motion sickness

drug

(Updates late afternoon trade, adds fund manager's quote

paragraphs 9-10)

By Purvi Agarwal, Nikhil Sharma and Saeed Azhar

Dec 31 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes inched

lower in the final trading session of 2025, but approached a

positive end to a roller-coaster year dominated by President

Donald Trump's tariff uncertainties and a euphoria around

AI-focused stocks.

The S&P ‌500, Dow and Nasdaq were on

track to log double-digit gains this year. It would mark their

third consecutive year in the green, a run last seen during

2019-2021.

The S&P 500 and the Dow are ​set to close their eighth

straight month of gains, their longest such streak since

2017-2018. The rally was bolstered by an insatiable appetite for

artificial ‍intelligence stocks that pushed all three indexes to

record highs this year.

On the day, tech stocks slipped 0.1%. ⁠Microsoft

was down 0.2% and Apple ( AAPL ) was ⁠flat, the biggest

weights on the sector.

"I do not expect that the last few days will have so much

bearing on the performance of the next year, it's perfectly fine

in any bull market ‌to have moments of cost," said Giuseppe

Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity, ​pointing to

profit-taking opportunities when liquidity was low.

At 1:47 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average was

down 92.79 points, or 0.19%, to 48,274.27, the S&P 500

lost 10.56 points, or 0.15%, to 6,885.68 and the Nasdaq

Composite lost 27.15 points, or 0.12%, to ⁠23,392.05.

Wall Street made a stellar comeback from April's lows when

Trump's 'Liberation Day' ‍tariffs sparked a ​meltdown in global

markets, sent investors away from U.S. stocks and threatened

growth by clouding the interest rate outlook.

Still the benchmark S&P 500 index's 16.9% gain is below some

global indices, especially the Asia-Pacific ex-Japan measure

, which rallied nearly 27% in 2025, as stock

investors ‍diversified.

"We expect this broadening of performance to deepen in

2026, both within the U.S. and across international markets,"

said Jitania Kandhari, Deputy CIO of the solutions and

multi-asset group at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

"The era of narrow winners is giving way to a wider,

more globally distributed opportunity set. Equal-weighted S&P

looks good relative to cap-weighted S&P."

Wall Street was looking at a fourth consecutive session

of losses, confounding expectations for a "Santa Claus rally" in

which the S&P 500 typically gains over the last five trading

days of December and the first two in January, according to the

Stock Trader's Almanac.

Bellwether chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ) - up about ​40%

year-to-date - has been ‍one of the many AI trade beneficiaries,

becoming the first publicly traded company to hit a $5 trillion

market capitalization.

The communication services index emerged as the

top performer on the S&P 500 this year, powered by a 66% jump in

Alphabet, nearing its best yearly performance ​since

2009.

Storage chip makers such as Micron Technology ( MU ),

Western Digital ( WDC ) and Seagate ( STX ) are set to

outperform their S&P 500 peers, having more than tripled in

value in 2025.

On the flip side, FMC Corp ( FMC ) and Fiserv ( FISV )

lagged peers, down 71% and 67%, respectively, for the year.

The Federal Reserve's monetary policy trajectory will set

the tone for global markets in 2026, after recent economic data

and expectations of a new dovish Fed chair prompted investors to

price in further reductions.

Nike ( NKE ) gained 4.4% after CEO Elliott Hill reported

that he bought about $1 million worth of shares recently.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals ( VNDA ) surged 28% after the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration approved its drug for the

prevention of motion-induced vomiting.

Trading volumes remained thin in ​the holiday-shortened week,

with markets closed on Thursday for New Year's Day.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.56-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE. There were 69 new highs and 88 new lows on the

NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 1,711 stocks rose and 2,912 fell as

declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.7-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 2 new 52-week highs and no new lows

while ‍the Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 178 new

lows.