S&P 500 Index Rises 0.23% as Economic Confidence Strengthens
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Dec 23 2025
0mins
Source: NASDAQ.COM
- Strong Economic Growth: The US Q3 real GDP rose by 4.3%, surpassing expectations of 3.3%, indicating robust economic fundamentals that could drive further stock market gains.
- Decline in Consumer Confidence: The December consumer confidence index fell by 3.8 points to 89.1, below the expected 91.0, which may negatively impact future consumer spending and economic growth.
- Weak Durable Goods Orders: October durable goods orders decreased by 2.2% month-over-month, worse than the expected 1.5% decline, indicating weakened demand in the manufacturing sector that could affect related companies' performance.
- Seasonal Market Factors: According to Citadel Securities, since 1928, the S&P 500 has risen 75% of the time in the last two weeks of December, averaging a 1.3% increase, providing a positive outlook for investors in the market.
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Analyst Views on MARA
Wall Street analysts forecast MARA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for MARA is 22.11 USD with a low forecast of 13.00 USD and a high forecast of 30.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
12 Analyst Rating
7 Buy
5 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 10.370
Low
13.00
Averages
22.11
High
30.00
Current: 10.370
Low
13.00
Averages
22.11
High
30.00
About MARA
MARA Holdings, Inc. is engaged in digital asset compute that develops and deploys technologies. The Company secures the blockchain ledger and supports energy transformation by converting clean, stranded, or otherwise underutilized energy into economic value. It also offers advanced technology solutions to optimize data center operations, including liquid immersion cooling and firmware for bitcoin miners. It is primarily focused on computing for, acquiring, and holding digital assets as a long-term investment. Its core business is bitcoin mining, and it produces, or mines, bitcoin using energy-efficient fleets of specialized computers while providing dispatchable compute as an optionality to the electric grid operators to balance electric demands on the grid. It is also engaged in the sale of data center infrastructure, such as immersion-cooled systems, to third parties operating in the bitcoin ecosystem and the artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance compute (HPC) sectors.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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