10 Stocks Lighting Up Market Ahead of Christmas

Ten stocks stood firmer on Wednesday, mirroring an overall market rally, as investors took path from a combination of corporate developments and wider macroeconomic developments to bolster buying.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones led the charge, rising 0.60 percent, followed by the S&P 500, growing 0.32 percent. The Nasdaq was up by 0.22 percent.

Indices aside, this article focuses on the 10 top-performing stocks alongside the reasons behind their gain.

To come up with the list, we focused on the stocks with more than $300 million market capitalization and 5 million shares in trading volume.

10. TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ:TMC)

TMC the metals company ended two straight days of losses on Wednesday, jumping 4.24 percent to close at $7.62 apiece as investors cheered progress in its request for deep-sea exploration in the international waters.

According to a report by The New York Times, the US government would formally review next month TMC the metals company Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TMC) submission to conduct deep-sea mining activities in the international seabed, despite the latter being a Canada-based firm and earning criticisms from the International Seabed Authority for allegedly bypassing the agency.

It can be recalled that TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ:TMC), through its US subsidiary, expressed its intention with the US government earlier this year to mine in the international waters, leveraging Washington’s non-membership in the ISA.

Its move earned criticisms from deep-sea advocates and several ISA members for being a Canadian firm, and with Canada being a member of the organization.

For its part, TMC the metals company Inc. (NASDAQ:TMC) argued that the ISA “does not have an exclusive mandate to regulate seabed mining activities in the Area, and there are existing claims outside of UNCLOS.”

“UNCLOS membership is not universal…The freedom to mine the deep seabed, like the freedom of navigation, is a high seas freedom enjoyed by all nations,” it said earlier.

9. Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE)

Nike Inc. jumped by 4.64 percent on Wednesday to close at $60 apiece after an Apple executive nearly doubled his stake in the company.

In a regulatory filing, Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) said that Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., acquired $2.9 million worth of new shares in the company.

Cook is currently an independent director and now owns a little more than 105,000 shares in Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE).

The purchase reflected strong confidence in the stock, despite posting dismal earnings performance in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 and posting lower sales guidance for the next quarter.

In the second quarter, the athletic fashion maker said that net income declined by 32 percent to $792 million from $1.16 billion in the same period last year.

Revenues were flat at $12 billion due to sales declines in China, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, which were primarily offset by growth in the North American region.

Looking ahead, Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) expects revenues for the third quarter to drop by low single digits, falling below analyst expectations of modest growth, on expectations that its operations in China, alongside higher tariffs, would continue to dampen sales.