US pre-open: Stocks look set for bounce

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were again pointing to a bounce in stocks at the start of trading in 2025, following the four consecutive down sessions registered at the end of the previous year. As of 1341 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials mini futures contract was up by 293 points to 43,166, that for the S&P 500 by 45 points at 5,980.75 and that on the Nasdaq-100 by 210 points to 21,433.50.

Gold futures were higher, likely taking their cue from the suspected terrorist attacks in the US over the weekend.

Ten-year US Treasury yields on the other hand were on the backfoot, but not so the US dollar index or WTI futures.

The latter were trading 1.0% higher at $72.72 a barrel on NYMEX.

Worth noting, traders were curious to see whether stocks would manage to recoup part of their recent losses during the last two sessions during which the Santa Claus typically occurs, over the five days preceding Christmas and the first two of the new year.

Some high-frequency data appeared to be supportive.

According to the Department of Labor, initial jobless claims for the week ending on 28 December fell by 9,000 too reach 211,000.

Continuing claims meanwhile fell by 52,000 to 1.844m.

Still ahead, at 1500 BST consultancy S&P Global was scheduled to release its factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index for the US covering the month of December.