In the early hours of the first trading day of the new year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was slightly weak, while the Nasdaq outperformed with an increase of over 300 points, and AI stocks were in high demand

On the first trading day of 2026, U.S. stocks opened higher across the board, but the early trend was mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 42 points or 0.1% at 48,105 points, then fell about 160 points or 0.4% in the early session. The Nasdaq outperformed, opening up 239 points or 1% at 23,481 points, with the latest gain expanding to over 300 points or 1.4%; the S&P 500 index opened up 32 points or 0.5% at 6,878 points.

AI stocks rose, with NVIDIA (NVDA.US) up nearly 3%, Micron Tech (MU.US) up over 7%, and AMD (AMD.US) also rising 5%.

Major tech stocks generally rose, with Alphabet (GOOG.US) continuing last year's upward trend, recently up nearly 3%; Apple (AAPL.US) and Amazon (AMZN.US) both up about 2%. Tesla (TSLA.US) saw a 16% drop in deliveries last quarter, which was below expectations, and its stock price rose about 2% before retreating.

Chinese concept stocks performed well, with Baidu (BIDU.US) stock price rising nearly 12%, as its subsidiary Kunlun Chip confirmed its spin-off listing; Alibaba (BABA.US) rose over 4%