Markets are off to a strong start in 2025 — but investors could face their first real test on Friday with the December jobs report and, potentially, a Supreme Court decision on the legality of most of President Trump’s tariffs.

Wall Street ended mixed on Thursday, as Nvidia and other technology stocks dipped, while defense companies advanced after President Donald Trump called for an enlarged $1.5 trillion military budget.

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Shares in defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman slumped Wednesday after President Donald Trump pledged to block the companies’ dividends, stock buybacks and what he described as “Over Compensation of Executives” until the sector speeds up its production and maintenance of military equipment.

President Donald Trump rattled the defense sector yesterday by signing an executive order prohibiting contractors from issuing dividends or repurchasing shares until they prioritize investments in new facilities and machinery to boost production speed and quality.

Wall Street analysts have speculated that Paramount will eventually surpass the $30 threshold to win support for its proposal to acquire all of WBD, including CNN. But for now, WBD continues to say that its existing deal to sell Warner Bros. and HBO (but not CNN or other cable assets) to Netflix is in the shareholders’ best interests.

Equities opened in the green in Japan and Australia, while South Korea lagged. S&P 500 witnessed a flat day on Thursday masked selling in tech behemoths such as Nvidia Corp. Treasury futures inched up and mortgage backed securities rallied after Trump said he was directing the purchase of $200 billion of mortgage bonds.

In contrast to the S&P 500, which is trading flat today, shares of Bloom Energy ( BE +13.26%) are moving sharply higher. Investors appear motivated to power their portfolios with the fuel cell specialist thanks to a customer's intent to make a sizable purchase.