U.S. stocks seem to be offering investors a little surprise on Friday. Although the three major indices all declined, the S&P 500 still hit a new all-time high intraday, which is quite impressive.

Looking at the data, the Dow fell 20.19 points (0.04%), closing at 48,710.97; the Nasdaq dropped 20.21 points (0.09%), closing at 23,593.10; the S&P 500 declined 2.11 points (0.03%), closing at 6,929.94. During Friday's trading, the S&P 500 even reached a high of 6,945.77 points, setting a new record.

The week as a whole was different. The Dow rose 1.2%, the Nasdaq increased 1.22%, and the S&P 500 gained 1.4% — this is the fourth week of gains in the past five weeks. Both major indices are up over 1% so far this year. So, this isn’t an isolated weekly phenomenon.

But the question is: can this rally continue? Tom Hainlin, an investment strategist at U.S. Union Bank Asset Management, offered an interesting assessment — investors are locking in gains in certain stocks or sectors, or bottom-fishing, but the specifics are still unclear. With no corporate earnings reports and economic data not being sufficient, the market trend might mainly be driven by technical factors and position adjustments.

Fundstrat’s chief technical strategist Mark Newton was more direct: 2025 is about to close, and this year’s bullish factors are slightly outweighing the bearish ones. Although the "artificial intelligence bubble" and tariff anxieties are still present, along with potential volatility from government shutdowns, tariffs, and inflation, looking at the end of the year… the "Santa Claus rally" still seems to be in effect.