Stock Market Today: Russell 2000, Nasdaq Decline After Strong Start to Trading Week
Noah Weidner
Mon, December 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM EST
7 min read
In this article:
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Happy Monday. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Dec. 15, 2025. You can follow the latest updates on the market here in our daily live blog.
Update: 12:47 p.m. ET
Midday Movers
It's that time of day again. Everyday around the midpoint of trading, we take a look at the best and worst-performing 20 stocks on the U.S. markets with at least a $2 billion market cap, our Midday Movers list. And with markets tilted to the downside right now, this list is definitely telling a clear story:
Winners
We'll start with the more diverse list of equities today -- the winners.
At the top of the market today is Immunome (+18.2%), a biotech company that just announced positive results from a phase 3 trial of a drug targeting Desmond tumors.
The winners today are definitely more varied than the losers (more on that in a second), but there are some common themes.
For one, apparel names Abercrombie & Fitch (+6.2%) and American Eagle (+6%) are on the move today, joined by some other retail names like GameStop (+5%) and Wayfair (+4.9%).
Second are auto manufacturers like Vinfast (+8%), Tesla (+3.9%), and Rivian (+3.8%). While the Vietnamese EV firm seems to be surging on plans to increase its investment in Indonesia, the latter two seem to be jumping on self-driving and AI chatter.
Here is today's top 20:
Losers
It's pretty clear cut where today's losers are at. (If you've been following this morning, you've seen the heat maps.)
At the bottom of the market is crypto miner Cleanspark (-15.2%). It's hardly alone. In fact, over half of the names on this list today are crypto-related -- take a look at those 'capital markets' names, plus Applied Digital, which bills itself an IT services company but owns a pretty hefty digital assets treasury.
Today's decline comes as the crypto market cap fell below $3 trillion, down 3% today. Bitcoin is now below $86K, while Ethereum is back below $3K.
Here's the bottom 20:
Update: 11:58 a.m. ET
In Focus: Russell 2000
As we approach midday, things are definitely shaping up differently than how we started the day. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. issues (63%, 3,498 issues) are in decline now.
Many of those declines are coming from the Russell 2000 (-0.61%), which started the day on a strong note, but is now suffering a similar fate to its tech heavy large cap compatriot, the Nasdaq.
Today, technology names are sagging -- specifically in software, hardware, and communication services. You can immediately identify that problem on the Russell 2000's heat map:
Story Continues
Other pockets of red are also worth singling out; specifically, energy, which is in even worse shape than the tech sector amid sagging prices of energy commodities.
Picking up some of the slack are financials, consumer defense, and industrials names -- but they are largely outnumbered by other sectors and industries.
Update: 10:11 a.m. ET
NAHB Housing Index Comes In At 39
The NAHB Housing Market Index data for December just released a few minutes ago, coming in at 39 -- the highest reading in eight months.
Econ hawks were looking for a repeat of last month's data, which came in at 38. That makes this showing a modest beat. However, as the index remains below 50, a sign that current and future conditions remain fairly pessimistic.
Nonetheless, that's four straight months of improving conditions in the housing market, which have been improved by current sales conditions (+1 pt) and future sales (+1 pt).
That could be in part because the use of incentives hit their highest percent since Covid in December, with 67% of homes offering some sort of sale incentive.
Update: 9:53 a.m. ET
Russell 2000, Nasdaq Turn Negative In Early Trading
After starting the trading session up about 0.40%, the Russell 2000 (-0.08%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.02%) are now in the red.
Here's the latter as of this morning, per TradingView:
Much of this decline seems to be led by modest declines across the tech industry; in software, electronics, and communication services. Both large names like Broadcom (-2.39%) and small names like Soundhound (-3.2%) are among the decliners.
Still, the U.S. markets are looking in pretty good shape, with data from FinViz advising that over half of equities are advancing this morning -- even despite the tepid start to the day.
Maybe the brightest spot is in financials. The S&P 500's Financial Sector just hit an all-time high, continuing a recent rally. That's happening even as the S&P 500 (+0.13%) and Dow (+0.09%) have faced declines from their opening prints.
Update: 9:34 a.m. ET
Opening Bell
Happy opening bell (to those who celebrate.) The U.S. markets are now open for the last full trading week of 2025.
This morning, the Russell 2000 (+0.43%) is continuing a days-long streak spurred by rate cut optimism and a healthy catch-up trade in small caps. As of today, it's up more than 15% year-to-date, putting it ahead of the Dow -- and on similar footing with one-time large cap leaders.
Speaking of large-caps, the Nasdaq (+0.37%) and S&P 500 (+0.33%) aren't far behind the Russell, trailed by lagging Dow (+0.26%).
Notably, all four equity benchmarks are lagging out of the gate -- but perhaps none worse than the Nasdaq. We'll be keeping an eye on it this morning, particularly since tech has been struggling in recent sessions.
Starting the week, the 10YTreasury (-3.9 bips to 4.157%), 20Y Treasury (-3.7 bips to 4.784%), and 30Y Treasury (-3.5 bips to 4.823%) are all seeing declines in yields this morning. The nearer it is, the bigger the fall.
In continuous contract land, Silver is 2.9% higher this morning at $63.805, joined by a rising Gold (+0.68% to $4,357.80). In energy futures, Natural Gas (-1.26% to $4.061) and Brent Crude (-0.41% to $60.87) are both declining, continuing a recent trend.
Update: 8:31 a.m. ET
Premarket Movers: Doximity, Lumentum, Zillow Group, ServiceNow
As we head towards the market open, here are the stocks making the biggest moves, per data from MarketWatch:
Winners
Doximity (+5.8%), Lumentum Holdings (+4.8%), and MDU Resources Group (+3.6%) are atop the list of winning equities this morning. You could be forgiven if you have no familiarity with these firms whatsoever. In notable names, Las Vegas Sands (+3%), Micron Technology (+3%), and Amer Sports (+3%) are also making the cut this morning.
Losers
At the bottom of the market, Zillow Group (-6.2%) is declining on reports that Google is testing a real estate ad format of their own, which could threaten the real estate firm's dominance. It's joined by ServiceNow (-5.6%) and Booz Allen Hamilton (-3%) in notable names.
Update: 8:31 a.m. ET
A.M. Update
Good morning. Today will mark the beginning of the end for a storied 2025 for U.S. markets; the last full week of the trading year. We'll get a few more earnings reports on the way out, with Micron Technology, Accenture, Nike, Paychex, and others set to report in the fast-approaching holiday haze.
It'll also be a busy one on the economic front, with payrolls for both October and November (Tuesday), Inflation and Jobless Claims (Thursday), and UM Consumer Sentiment (Friday) on deck.
Earnings + Economic Data
This morning, the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index is already out, coming in at -3.9 in December. In November, it was an 18.7, which was a one-year high and one of just five positive readings this year. The indicator means that the industry is once again contracting.
Coming up later this morning, the NAHB Housing Market Index will be out -- analysts are looking for a reading of a 38, the same as last month.
Through the remainder of the day, we'll also hear commentary from the Fed's Miran and Williams.
Also, in earnings news: Data from Nasdaq says there are just two earnings reports from firms worth at least $1 billion today: Navan Inc and Lufax Holding, both after the bell.
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest Business & Market News section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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