Stock Market Update Ahead of Thanksgiving
Traders were busy on the New York Stock Exchange on November 21, 2025, as stocks experienced an uptick for the fourth day in a row before the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed by 286 points, reflecting a 0.6% increase. Similarly, the S&P 500 saw an uptick of 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced also by 0.6%.
Stocks like Nvidia bounced back, gaining over 1% after some recent downturns. Another prominent name, Microsoft, also jumped by more than 1%.
Despite some turbulence in trading, the marketplace appears to be on the mend. The Dow has enjoyed a rise of more than 660 points over the past three days, showing positive movement across various sectors. Tech stocks played a big part in this rebound, with Alphabet hitting a new peak after reports suggested that Metaplatforms might utilize Google’s TPU chips in 2027. On a different note, Nvidia faced a drop of over 2.5%.
“It seems stocks are striving to recover from the declines we’ve seen recently, hinting that we’re still in a bull market,” noted Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer at Bellwether Wealth. “The pullback in November was only about 4% from late October’s highs, which is quite small compared to the usual 10% threshold for corrections.”
Bellin also pointed out that while there’s hope for the market to regain previous highs, there aren’t clear indicators that will drive it upwards between now and year-end.
Investors are keeping an eye on factors that could sway the Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest rate decisions. Currently, traders believe there’s over an 80% likelihood that the Fed might reduce interest rates by a quarter point in December, according to recent analysis.
Earlier on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated to CNBC that it was “very likely” President Trump would make an announcement concerning the next Fed chair before Christmas. He mentioned ongoing discussions with potential candidates; however, expectations shifted when Bloomberg reported on Kevin Hassett’s remarks, leading him to emerge as a frontrunner for the position. He’s considered likely to advocate for rate reductions.
Reflecting on November’s overall performance, it’s been a tough month for the stock market. All three major U.S. indexes have nixed declines, burdened by worries over increasing valuations that have tempered the momentum for several high-profile tech companies. The S&P 500 dipped approximately 1% this month, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by about 3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped roughly 1% since November started.
As a reminder, the stock market will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, and trading will resume on Friday with a shortened trading day, set to close at 1 PM ET.
