Wall Street set to open slightly lower in light trading

Wall Street set to open slightly lower in light trading. U.S. stocks were set to open slightly lower in what could be a quiet session on Friday as investors gear up for the Christmas holiday.

Volumes have been muted this week, which is also the last full week of trading this year. U.S. markets are shut for the Christmas holiday on Monday.

U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, weighed down by weakness in retailers as investors stepped back from a recent rally fueled by optimism that President-elect Donald Trump’s policies will boost the economy.

The decline pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average further away from the 20,000 mark after it came very close to breaching the historic level this week.

“With Christmas this weekend and New Year’s just over a week away, global stocks may meander between losses and gains as investors strategize for 2017,” said Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM in Croydon, London.

Following a sharp rally since the Nov. 8 U.S. election, the Dow is up about 14 percent for the year and the S&P 500 is 11 percent higher on bets that the economy will benefit from Trump’s plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending.

Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were down 15 points, or 0.08 percent, with 10,307 contracts changing hands at 8:26 a.m. ET (1326 GMT).

S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were down 1.75 points, or 0.08 percent, with 51,385 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were down 5 points, or 0.1 percent, on volume of 9,283 contracts.

Economic data scheduled for release includes new home sales for November, which likely advanced 2.1 percent to 575,000 units after declining 1.9 percent in October. The data is expected at 10 a.m. ET.

A final reading on consumer sentiment in December is expected to remain unchanged at 98.0.

Oil slipped below $55 a barrel as a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on commodities and as higher Libyan output threatened to counter some of the supply cuts planned by OPEC and other producers. [O/R]

Fred’s (FRED.O) shares were up 6.2 percent at $20.59 in premarket trading after Alden Global Capital reported a stake of 24.8 percent in the discount store operator.

Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) fell 2.1 percent to $247.65 after Trump said he viewed costs for the company’s F-35 fighter as too high and that he had asked Boeing (BA.N) to offer a price for an older aircraft. Boeing was up 0.4 percent at $158.05.

U.S.-listed shares of Credit Suisse CS.S fell 0.7 percent to $14.82, while Deutsche Bank (DB.N) rose 1.1 percent to $18.80 after the two European lenders were hit with a combined penalty of more than $12 billion over the sale of U.S. toxic debt.

While stocks will trade for the full day, the U.S. bond market will close at 2 p.m. ET.

 

Source – Reuters

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