U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday as trading resumed after the Christmas holidays, as Wall Street awaited one of the only economic data of the week.
Futures linked to the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose 0.3%, and those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) also decreased by 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures (YM=F) lost 0.4%, leading the decline.
Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC-USD) plummeted, falling below the $96,000 level as volatile trading continued. Cryptocurrency-linked stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR) followed the falls.
Markets appeared to be struggling in an attempt to extend the start of the “Santa Claus rally”, which started strongly on Tuesday. The three major indexes rose around 1%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) are within striking distance of their records after recovering gains from a Federal Reserve-driven decline last week.
As Wall Street returns from its vacation, the normally routine release of weekly jobless claims will garner more attention than usual, as it is the only piece of the jobs puzzle on the agenda this week.
Coming soon
Live stock market coverage for Thursday, December 26, 2024.
