US STOCKS -Wall St set for mixed open as year end approaches, rate cuts in focus

Wall Street was set for a mixed open in light trading on the penultimate trading day of 2023, while the benchmark S&P 500 hovered around its all-time high on hopes of early interest rate cuts next year. On Thursday, gains in megacap stocks in premarket trading kept the Nasdaq futures higher, while those tied to the S&P 500 remained subdued.

Wall Street was set for a mixed open in light trading on the penultimate trading day of 2023, while the benchmark S&P 500 hovered around its all-time high on hopes of early interest rate cuts next year.

On Thursday, gains in megacap stocks in premarket trading kept the Nasdaq futures higher, while those tied to the S&P 500 remained subdued. Equities managed to eke out some gains in the previous session, as all three indexes oscillated between modest gains and losses throughout the session but finished higher for the day. All the indexes are on course for monthly, quarterly, and annual gains.

Focus will now be on the S&P 500. A closing above the January record close of 4796.56 would confirm the bellwether index entered a bull market after it hit the bear market closing trough in October 2022. Optimism around early rate cuts with a possible soft landing for the American economy next year, and the artificial intelligence frenzy powered a rally in U.S. stocks in 2023, but fears of the economy slowing more sharply still persist as the full effect of higher borrowing costs filters through.

The Labor Department's report on Thursday indicated a weakening jobs market, with the initial claims for state unemployment benefits rising to 218,000 for the week ended Dec. 23, above expectations of 210,000 claims. "It (the data) is showing some signs of slowing, which makes the case for more Fed accommodation sooner," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.

Money markets have priced in an about 86% probability that policymakers will reduce the Fed funds target rate by at least 25 basis points at the conclusion of their March policy meeting, according to CME's FedWatch tool. At 8:41 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 39 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1 point, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 48.5 points, or 0.28%.

Among individual stocks, U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies rose in premarket trading as China's blue-chip stocks staged their biggest jump in five months on Thursday on strong foreign inflows. Shares of Alibaba Holdings, PDD Holdings and JD.Com Inc advanced between 1.2% and 3.3%.

CytoSorbents dropped 36.2% as the company's device aimed at reducing bleeding during surgery did not meet the main goal of a study.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)