US stocks : S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq see slight dip in final week of 2025; AI valuation worries linger

US stock markets opened in red Monday, with major indices slipping despite a strong year dominated by tech companies. The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq fell in early trading, in a week that'll mark the end of 2025.The S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent in early trading. With just three sessions remaining in 2025, the benchmark index is up more than 17 per cent for the year and is on course for its eighth consecutive monthly gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 44 points, or 0.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite declined 0.3 per cent. Bond markets saw Treasury yields ease, even as European and Asian equities traded mixed.Despite some recent concerns about whether AI stocks are priced too high and whether funding for large projects will remain strong, the Nasdaq has been the best-performing major index in 2025. This has been driven mainly by strong gains in shares of Nvidia, Google parent Alphabet, and other technology companies.Twenty minutes after markets opened, the numbers showed clear declines. The S&P 500 dropped 0.4 per cent to 6,904.93, though it's still up more than 14 percent for the year. The Dow Jones fell 0.3 percent to 48,585.06, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq saw the biggest dip, falling 0.6 percent to 23,461.39."There is some tech profit taking and no information to really drive markets," said Jack Ablin from Cresset Capital. He suggested that the quiet trading environment might actually help stocks rise in the year's final days, as quoted by AFP.In company-specific news, athletic wear maker Lululemon saw its stock rise 1.4 percent. This came after news broke that company founder Chip Wilson was pushing to get three new directors appointed to the company's board through a proxy fight.