After trending higher over the past several sessions, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by less than a tenth of a percent.
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 (MU) and SanDisk (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.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Friday, with several markets in the region closed for the holidays. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index added 0.7 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index inched up by 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets remained closed on the day.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are dipping $0.05 to $58.30 a barrel after edging down $0.03 to $58.35 a barrel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, after slipping $2.90 to $4,502.80 ounce in the previous session, gold futures are climbing $43 to $4,535.80 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 156.26 yen versus the 155.79 yen it fetched on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1793 compared to yesterday’s $1.1777.
Business News
U.S. Stocks May Lack Direction In Light Holiday Trading
2025-12-26 13:48:40
