Wall St futures ease as strong holiday-shortened week draws to a close
2024.12.27 06:02
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday at the end of an upbeat holiday-shortened week for Wall Street’s main indexes that was driven by expectations around a traditionally strong period for markets.
The Dow closed higher for the sixth consecutive session on Thursday in thin year-end trading, while higher U.S. Treasury yields weighed on some heavyweight tech and growth stocks.
At 05:09 a.m. ET on Friday, Dow E-minis were down 119 points, or 0.27%, and E-minis were down 22 points, or 0.36%.
Futures tracking the tech-laden were down 92.25 points, or 0.42%, as Nvidia (NASDAQ:) dropped 0.8% in premarket trading and Tesla (NASDAQ:) shed 1.4%.
The S&P 500 has recouped most of last week’s losses that stemmed from the U.S. Federal Reserve projecting fewer interest rate cuts in 2025 and hurting risk appetite.
The benchmark index is now eyeing its best week in seven, and is about 1% below its all-time high of 6,099.97 points clinched on Dec. 6.
With three sessions left to close out the year, investors are hoping for new all-time highs in the stock-buying season called the “Santa Claus rally” – the last five sessions of December and the first two of January.
Since 1969, the S&P 500 has climbed 1.3% on average in the seven-day trading period, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.
Trading volume in this holiday-shortened week has been below the average of the last six months and is likely to remain subdued until Jan. 6. The next major focus for markets will be the December employments report due on Jan. 10.
