Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 10, 2024.
Stock futures edged up in overnight trading Sunday as the market gears up for a holiday-shortened trading week.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 100 points. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.4%.
Trading is expected to be relatively muted during the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday for Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. ET, and the market is shut on Christmas Day.
Investors are hopeful that a so-called Santa Claus rally may help the market end 2024 on a high note, especially following a tumultuous week. Dating back to 1969, the S&P 500, on average, added 1.3% in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.
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The second half of December is also typically the second-strongest period of the year for U.S. equities, and the S&P 500 has been up 83% of the time in December of presidential election years, according to Bank of America.
"With the market's primary uptrends still intact, we are not giving up on the potential for a Santa Claus to come to Broad & Wall this year," Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler, said in a note.
The market is coming off a rollercoaster ride that saw the blue-chip Dow suffer a 10-day losing streak, its longest since 1974. The Dow tumbled 1,100 points last Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled fewer rate cuts for 2025 than previously projected. A cooler-than-expected inflation reading helped stocks recoup some of the losses.
Money Report
Month-to-date, the 30-stock Dow is down 4.6% in December, while the S&P 500 is off 1.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite bucked the downtrend, rising 1.8% this month.
On the politics front, President Joe Biden signed a government funding bill on Saturday that averted a government shutdown. The bill funds federal agencies at current levels for the next three months.
European shares higher
Markets in Europe saw gains on Monday, with shares erasing earlier losses to trade higher by 9:24 a.m. London time.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.2%, with sectors in mixed territory. Investors in the region were making trades ahead of planned market closures for the Christmas holiday later this week.
Read the latest on European markets here.
— Chloe Taylor
December is historically the second-best month for stocks
December is historically the second-best month in a U.S. presidential election year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac. On average, the two indexes gain 1.3% and 0.8% on the month, respectively, during such years. For the Nasdaq Composite, presidential election year Decembers are usually the fifth-best of the year, with the tech-heavy index rising an average 0.9%.
The bulk of gains in December usually come in the back half of the month, when a Santa Claus rally, and low trading volumes, could give this year's monster run one final push toward the finish line.
— Sarah Min
