Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are currently pointing to a lower open on Monday, with stocks likely to give back ground after turning in a strong performance last week.
Profit taking may contribute to initial weakness on Wall Street, as some traders look to cash in on recent gains going into the end of the year.
Partly reflecting renewed strength among tech stocks, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended last Thursday’s trading at record closing highs before edging slightly lower last Friday.
A pullback by big-name tech companies may weigh on the markets, as shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) are tumbling by more than 2 percent in pre-market trading.
Shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) are also seeing notable pre-market weakness after posting strong gains last week.
Overall trading activity may remain somewhat subdued, however, as some traders are likely to remain away from their desks ahead of the New Year’s Day holiday on Thursday.
After trending higher for several sessions, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing slightly lower.
The S&P 500 reached a new record intraday high in early trading before closing down 2.11 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 6,929.94.
The Dow also edged down 20.19 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 48,710.97, while the Nasdaq slipped 20.21 points or 0.1 percent to 23,593.10.
Despite the choppy trading on the day, the major averages all posted strong gains for the week. While the S&P 500 shot up by 1.4 percent, the Dow and the Nasdaq both jumped by 1.2 percent.
The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, leading to below average trading activity.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves following the recent upward trend, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs.
Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day.
Gold stocks saw significant strength, however, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index climbing by 1.4 percent to a new record closing high as the price of the precious metal also jumped to new highs.
Steel stocks also saw some strength on the day, while airline and telecom stocks showed moderate moves to the downside.