How stocks usually react to December Fed days — and why Powell’s final meeting of 2025 could be different

Stocks are likely to get choppy later today when Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference starts. - MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty Images, iStockphoto Investors were bracing for the Federal Reserve’s final interest-rate decision of 2025 on Wednesday, with history showing that the S&P 500 index has tended to see a modest gain on Fed days in December. Going back to 2000, the S&P 500 SPX has gained an average of roughly 0.2% on December Fed days, with a median gain of 0.1%, according to Dow Jones Ma ...