U.S. stock futures held steady as investors awaited data that will give an indication of whether the recent uptick in Covid-19 infections is hurting the labor market.
Futures for the S&P 500 were flat Thursday after the broad-market index climbed to a record a day earlier. Contracts for the tech-focused Nasdaq-100 edged up 0.1% and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat.
Stocks typically rise during the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days of the new year—a phenomenon known as the “Santa Claus rally.” Since 1950, the S&P 500 has ended higher about 77% of the time during the period, according to Dow Jones Market Data, with an average gain of 1.3%.
Despite Covid-19 cases hitting a record in the U.S., some investors expect that high vaccination rates and signs of milder symptoms caused by the Omicron variant mean the economy will avoid a repeat of the disruption seen at the start of the pandemic. Many decision makers are more focused on hospitalizations than cases and are seeking to avoid stricter measures.
Lower-than-average trading volumes, with many investors off for the holiday season, could cause choppy trading or outsize moves in markets.
“On the equity side, we’re grinding higher,” said Des Lawrence, a senior investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. “It looks like markets are a little bit more stable but liquidity is very thin at the moment, volumes are really light.”
In premarket trading, shares ofBiogenfell almost 5% after Samsung Biologicscalled a media report that it was about to buy the company “not true.” U.S.-listed shares of Didi Globalfell more than 5% premarket after the ride-hailing firm said its third-quarter revenue dropped.
Investors are awaiting data on U.S. jobless claims, which have remained near decade lows in recent weeks. That reflects a tight labor market in which employers are holding on to their workers despite concerns around the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect that first-time applications for unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, will stay near that level in the week ended Dec. 25 when figures are released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
In bond markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ticked down to 1.529% from 1.542% Wednesday. Yields and prices move inversely.
Overseas, the Stoxx Europe 600 edged 0.1% higher. Indexes in Asia closed with mixed performances. China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.6%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ticked up 0.1%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.4%.