(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures kicked off the last week of the year on a positive note on Tuesday as markets resumed trading after Christmas holidays amid strong expectations of early rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year.
All three major Wall Street indexes closed higher on Friday after data showed that inflation was close to Fed’s target. The indexes also logged their eighth consecutive weekly gains, the longest winning streak for the S&P 500 since late 2017.
The S&P 500 is now within 1% of its record close reached in January 2022. Should it close above that level, that will confirm the benchmark index has been in a bull market since bottoming out in October 2022.
The only key economic data expected this week is the jobless claims report on Thursday, with no Fed officials scheduled to speak.
Commerce Department’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report on Friday showed inflation continues to meander down toward the Fed’s average annual 2% target.
“Normally, you wouldn’t necessarily cheer a slowdown in 6-month inflation but because investors are increasingly impatient to see the Fed cut its interest rates, all metrics are good to justify the end of the Fed’s policy tightening campaign,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
Completing the purchase of a stake in Manchester United, billionaire Jim Ratcliffe will pay $33 a share for a 25% stake in the club, valuing it at about $5.4 billion, below initial hopes of $6 billion.
Shares of the British football club soared 5.8% in premarket trading.
At 5:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 55 points, or 0.15%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.75 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 36 points, or 0.21%.
Among other movers, Gracell Biotechnologies shot up 59.5% after AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it will buy the China-based firm for up to $1.2 billion as the Anglo-Swedish pharma company furthers its cell therapy ambitions.
Intel Corp rose 1.9% after Israel’s government agreed to give it a $3.2 billion grant for a new $25 billion chip plant it plans to build in southern Israel, both sides said on Tuesday.
Volumes are likely to remain low during this week with most market participants on holidays heading into the new year.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
