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Happy Wednesday. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Dec. 17, 2025. You can follow the latest updates on the market here in our daily live blog.
The U.S. markets are now closed, putting a cap on a rough day of trading for tech stocks. In total, 57.5% (3,197) issues were in decline today against 39.2% (2,178) advancing.
The Nasdaq (-1.81%) faced the brunt of the selloff as the Financial Times reported that Oracle (-5.4%) was losing a key source of funding on its $10 billion Michigan data center project. That revelation cooked up a significant selloff in semiconductor names, as well as the broader tech industry. The Nasdaq finished at 22,693.32.
The S&P 500(-1.16%) sold off for a fourth straight day on the news, falling to 6,721.50. Here was the index today; notice those hot red pockets in tech and industrials.
Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 (-1.07%) faced similar pockets of decline as the tech and industrial trouble boiled over into the small-cap index. It fell below 2,500 on the news, reversing from recent all-time highs.
Rounding out the major indexes, the Dow (-0.47%) was best-insulated, but still registered a decline. It closed out the day at 47,855.97.
Now that the midday fireworks are in the rear view, all four U.S. market indexes are facing steeper declines — near day lows.
The Russell 2000 (-1.26%) is down amid sluggishness in the industrial, technology, and communication services sector today.
The same is at least partially true for the Nasdaq (-1.23%) and S&P 500 (-0.83%), which are facing a similar downturn as the Oracle (-4.8%) drama permeates throughout the market, weighing on shares of other semiconductor names such as Broadcom (-5.3%), Advanced Micro Devices (-3.8%), and Nvidia(-3%).
Today, the Dow (-0.39%) is making the best case today. Half of the index is in the red, the other half is in the red.
In total, 53.8% (2,992) of U.S. issues are in decline today against 42.8% (2,379) advancing, which brings us to our midday mover list for today. We’ll take a look at the top and bottom 20 equities in the market among firms with at least a $2 billion market cap:
Despite it being a bad day for AI, today’s top stock is an AI-fueled biotech play called Recursion Pharmaceuticals (+17.8%), who we haven’t seen atop the list in quite awhile. A one-time retail favorite, the company was upgraded by JPMorgan today, which moved it from ‘neutral’ to ‘overweight’ citing the potential of its MEK inhibitor clinical trial.
Following close behind is Hut 8 (+12.5%), Anbio (+10.6%), and Via Transportation (+8.4%).
Among the larger firms making the list today are Elbit Systems (+4.3%), Texas Pacific Land Corporation (+5.6%), and Figma (+4.8%).
At the other end of the market, EverCommerce (-11.6%) is plummeting on some volatility. It’s followed by some AI-related trades, independent power producer Bloom Energy (-10.1%) and Fermi (-9.6%).
Even larger firms are being weighed down today by the AI jitters, including GE Vernova (-8.2%), Constellation Energy (-7.9%), and Vistra (-7.3%).
Oracle is once again making itself the main character in the AI boom — and maybe not in a good way.
Today, the hyperscaler is declining on a Financial Times report that Blue Owl Capital won’t go forward with funding the firm’s $10 billion Michigan data center amid worries about “tougher debt terms and the risk of delays,” per the article.
The news comes just days after sources close to Oracle said it was pushing back key data center deliveries for partner OpenAI, who has committed billions to data center projects. Oracle was made to refute reports that it was not punting on these projects and that all milestones were coming along as planned. Obviously, Blue Owl seems to have sided with the anonymous sources cited in that Bloomberg report.
Traders have remained relatively flighty about Oracle and ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Oracle counts more than half of its performance obligations from the Sam Altman-helmed company, which remains reliant on capital infusions from venture capital to stay afloat as it burns through money.
And since the latter has not put up the money upfront, the hyperscaler has taken on gobs of debt to bring its data center ambitions to life. An astonishing $25 billion of the firm’s $127 billion in debt is due within just three years. And with negative free cash flow — in fact, -$13 billion — a modest delay could seriously jeopardize the company’s financial prospects.
The company’s Altman Z-Score, a measure which is designed to predict likelihoods of bankruptcy within two years, is in the so-called “grey area” already, indicating financial stress.
A deal with tech giant Meta seemed to help settle some concerns, but the underlying story is still the same: Oracle needs to deliver these projects or there might be trouble.
Larry Ellison, the CEO and Co-Founder of Oracle, was seen trying to help finance the acquisition of HBO parent Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
Larry’s son, David, is the CEO of media company Skydance — which recently acquired Paramount to become Paramount Skydance.
However, the Ellison Family Trust was seen as a precarious sticking point in the recent negotiations between the media giants, leading WBD to go with Netflix for a proposed takeout. Partially harming matters for the Ellisons were questions about their financing, as well as Oracle’s sagging stock.
That said, counting its decline today, Oracle has now fallen more than 45% from all-time highs.
The U.S. markets are now open. The Russell 2000 (+0.57%) has already reversed yesterday’s -0.45% decline from yesterday; it’s now just a matter of holding onto those gains for the day.
In large caps, the Dow (+0.36%) is also having a solid start to the day. The S&P 500 (+0.12%) and Nasdaq (+0.09%), by contrast, are just up a few basis points at the market open. For the former, a gain today would put an end to a three day skid for the index.
The 10Y is up 0.8 bips to 4.157%.
One of the foreboding themes of the Tuesday trade — aside from so-so payrolls — was the large decline in U.S. energy stocks. The S&P Energy sector declined 3% as domestic oil prices approached a nearly four-year low. This morning, the U.S. oil benchmark known as WTI Crude, is trading at $56 — up about 1.5%.
Today, the sector is up about 1%, taking a bite of some of yesterday’s losses. Financials and materials are also joining in the recovery, up more than half a percentage point.
Joining in some of that excitement are Natural Gas continuous futures (+2.96% to $4.001) and the international oil benchmark, Brent Crude (+1.46% to $59.78), which is seeing a healthy bump in its continuous futures too.
But since it’s the holiday season, there might not be a more timely trade than Silver (+3.75% and $65.675) and Gold (+0.81% to $4,367) — they’re up again today, continuing a hefty showing from precious metals in recent trading.
Good morning. Futures this morning are currently pointing to modest gains in U.S. equities this morning, potentially offsetting Tuesday’s tepid payrolls market reaction.
Here are all of the companies with at least a $1 billion market cap which are slated to report today, per Nasdaq:
Today will be a fairly relaxed day compared with yesterday, which saw the release of the overdue October payrolls alongside November’s data. Here is what is on deck for today:
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest Business & Market News section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
