Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Friday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction after trending higher over the past several sessions.
Many traders are likely to remain away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, leading to below average trading activity.
Traders may also be reluctant to make significant moves following the recent upward trend, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs.
However, tech stocks may extend their recent surge, with shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) seeing significant pre-market strength.
The upward momentum for the digital memory firms comes after a report from DigiTimes said South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have hiked prices for fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory by nearly 20 percent for 2026 deliveries.
Looking ahead, overall trading activity may remain somewhat subdued next week due to the New Year’s Day holiday on Thursday.
Reports on weekly jobless claims and pending home sales may still attract attention along with the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting.
Stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session but moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages extended their winning streak to five days, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.
The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow advanced 288.75 points or 0.6 percent to 48,731.16, the Nasdaq rose 51.46 points or 0.2 percent to 23,613.31 and the S&P 500 climbed 22.26 points or 0.3 percent to 6,932.05.
The strength that emerged on Wall Street may have reflected recent upward momentum, with Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Northlight Asset Management, noting the “path of least resistance is higher until the end of the year.”
Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, as many traders were away from their desks ahead of the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday.
The markets will remain closed on Thursday and closed earlier than usual this afternoon in honor of Christmas Eve.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended December 20th.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 214,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 224,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 223,000.
“Despite ongoing seasonal volatility, initial jobless claims remain in a range consistent with relatively steady labor market conditions and don’t change out outlook for the labor market or Fed policy,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
While the broader markets moved to the upside over the course of the session, most of the major sectors showed only modest moves.
Housing and banking stocks saw some strength on the day, while gold and oil service stocks moved to the downside.