All three major benchmarks are eyeing weekly gains
Investors are coming back from Christmas to a quiet Wall Street. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are trading near breakeven, while Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) futures are pointed slightly higher. With not much news to trade today, there's still the possibility of a "Santa Claus Rally," with all the three major indexes hoping for sixth-straight gains and comfortable weekly wins.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange saw over 887,490 call contracts and 502,594 put contracts exchanged during Wednesday's holiday-shortened session. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.57, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.58.
- Biohaven Ltd (NYSE:BHVN) stock is down 12.7% lower premarket, following news the biopharmaceutical name's drug to treat major depressive disorder did not meet the primary goal of a phase 2 trial. So far this year, the equity has shed over 70%.
- United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) stock is pointed lower ahead of the bell, falling alongside sector peers as a storm threatens flight disruptions. In the last six months, UAL has added 49%.
- Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock is up 0.8% in electronic trading, after the chip name bought assets from AI startup Groq for $20 billion -- its biggest acquisition to date. NVDA sports a 40% year-to-date lead.
- Fed meeting minutes will wrap up the year next week.
Asian Stocks Edge Higher; European Markets Closed
Markets in Asia moved mostly higher, though Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was closed for the Boxing Day holiday. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.7%, after core consumer price index (CPI) in Tokyo saw a 2.3% year-over-year growth in December. A surge in safe haven assets was also driving sentiment. China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.1% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5%.
European markets were closed for the Boxing Day holiday.