Stock futures trade higher ahead of final trading day of year
U.S. equity futures have turned higher ahead of the final opening bell of the year on Wall Street.
All three futures indexes suggest a gain of 0.1% when trading begins.
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It will be a full trading day on the final day of 2020.
Traders will get one last economic report to end the year in the form of initial jobless claims for last week. Watch for an increase of 30,000 to 833,000. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, are anticipated to rise slightly to 5.39 million. That’s up from the previous week’s reading of 5.338 million, which was the lowest since March 21.
In Europe, London's FTSE was down 1.1% and France's CAC declined 0.1%. German markets were closed.
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In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3%. China's Shanghai Composite gained 1.7%. Trading was closed in Tokyo.
The Tokyo exchange marked the end of trading for the year Wednesday, with the Nikkei falling 0.5%, and trading will not reopen until Monday next week. Global markets will be closed New Year’s Day.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 44182.35 | +312.00 | +0.71% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5961.29 | +12.58 | +0.21% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18982.823784 | +10.40 | +0.05% |
On Wall Street, stocks eked out modest gains Wednesday, keeping the major stock indexes on Wall Street at or near record highs.
Energy and materials companies led the gains. Industrial and financial stocks also had a strong showing. Small-company stocks again outpaced their larger rivals, a sign that investors are feeling more optimistic about the economy.
The S&P 500 index rose 5 points, or 0.1% to 3,732.04. The Dow gained 73.89 points, or 0.2%, to 30,409.56. The Nasdaq composite picked up 19.78 points, or 0.2%, to 12,870.
Ahead of the final day of trading in 2020, the S&P 500 is up 15.5% this year, while the Nasdaq is up 43.4%.
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In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude slipped 32 cents to $48.08 a barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.