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Stock Market Live January 2, 2026: S&P 500 (SPY) Set for Higher Highs

By Ian Cooper Updated Jan 2, 12:35PM EST · Published Jan 2, 8:41AM EST

Quick Read

Nvidia is up about $2.65 a share, with analysts at TD Cowen reiterating a buy rating on the tech giant.
Last trading just under $4,400, gold could test $5,000 this year.
After decades of building Berkshire Hathaway, billionaire Warren Buffett has stepped down after making many of his investors filthy rich.

Live Updates

This “End of Year” Trading Opportunity Exploded Again

Jan 2, 2026 at 12:34 PM EST

Since early November, we mentioned Planet Fitness (PLNT) as a New Year’s Resolution trade.

As we noted at the time, “As millions of us do, we promise next year will be different. Around this time of year, about 90% of us, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, make a resolution to lose weight, diet, and exercise more. All as millions of us begin to worry about our expanding waistlines, and promise ourselves next year will be different.”

Many of us will join Weight Watchers, or even Medifast. Or even join a gym.

Look at Planet Fitness (PLNT), for example. For the last several years, the stock has tended to take off around the holidays. We saw it take off in late 2020, in late 2021, in late 2022, and again in 2023 and 2024. Since early November, PLNT has run from about $92 to $114.

Insiders Just Invested Millions in these Stocks

Jan 2, 2026 at 8:38 AM EST

Over the past few days, we learned that CEO Elliott Hill bought 16,400 Nike shares for approximately $1 million. This follows news that Apple’s Tim Cook bought $3 million worth of Nike stock. Robert Swan, a Nike director, purchased approximately $500,000 of stock on December 22 at an average price of $57.54.

Since then, the oversold stock bounced from a low of $56.99 to $63.71. From here, we’d like to see NKE initially refill its bearish gap at $66.

Or, look at DoorDash (DASH).

In late November, board member Alfred Lin bought over $100 million worth of DASH. That’s massive skin in the game. You’re not likely to find someone spending that kind of money unless they have a good idea of progress and the opportunity for growth. Analysts at Needham also have a buy rating on the stock.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Markets are set to explode this first trading day of the year. S&P 500 futures are up about 38 points. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY | SPY Price Prediction) is up about $3.90 a share. The Dow Jones is up 186 points, as the Nasdaq races about 244 points higher.

Fueling a good deal of momentum are AI-related stocks.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is up about $2.65 a share, with analysts at TD Cowen reiterating a buy rating on the tech giant. This was after Nvidia announced a licensing agreement with Groq, an AI inference chip company.

Micron (NASDAQ: MU) is taking off again on supply-demand issues, which could create a $100 billion high-bandwidth market by 2028. SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) is running after analysts at BNP Paribas said it could benefit from the AI boom’s “historic upcycle.”

Gold Prices Are Rocketing to Higher Highs

Gold prices are seeing higher highs.

Last trading just under $4,400, gold could test $5,000 this year. In fact, Bank of America, for example, is targeting $5,000 by 2026. JPMorgan is targeting $5,055. HSBC analysts are targeting $5,000 by early 2026, too. All of which is fueling upside for gold stocks, like Newmont (NEM) and gold ETFs, such as the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX).

As I noted the other day, gold could have another big year with growing geopolitical tension, economic uncertainty, expectations of further interest rate cuts, a weak dollar, and strong interest from central banks.

Billionaire Warren Buffett Stepped Down from Berkshire

After decades of building Berkshire Hathaway, billionaire Warren Buffett has stepped down after making many of his investors filthy rich.

As noted by CNBC, “Berkshire has a better chance, I think, of being here 100 years from now than any company I can think of.’ Buffett, who is being succeeded by Greg Abel, will stay on as chair of the conglomerate.”

While Greg Abel will be the new chair, there are still questions about who will make investing decisions, with some investors still not sold on Abel’s stock-picking abilities.

Top Ways to Invest Like Warren Buffett

When you listen to Warren Buffett speak, you can always take away a few words of wisdom.

In fact, if most of us had the opportunity to have listened to him between 1964 and 2025, as his Berkshire Hathaway returned more than 5.5 million percent, cumulatively, most of us wouldn’t be worrying about money today.

If you listen to the billionaire often enough – as we do – the message is always a simple one.

You just need to buy and hold sizable, growing companies with consistently strong business models that are easy to understand.

He’s looking to buy great stocks when everyone else is too afraid to buy. He looks for:

Simple companies that are easy to understand
Companies with predictable and proven earnings
Companies that can be bought at a reasonable price
Companies with “economic moat,” or a unique advantage over their competition.

“I look for companies that have a business we understand, favorable long-term economics, able and trustworthy management, and a sensible price tag. We like to buy the whole business or, if management is our partner, at least 80%. When control-type purchases of quality aren’t available, though, we are also happy to simply buy small portions of great businesses by way of stock market purchases. It’s better to have a part interest in the Hope Diamond than to own all of a rhinestone,” he notes.