Traders work at their desks on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during the first trading of the new year on January 2, 2025 in New York City.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Stock futures rose early Friday as Wall Street appeared to complete its first weekly rally of the new year.
Futures linked to Dow 30 stocks Added 177 points (0.4%). S&P500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures They advanced by 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.
For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 rose 2.9% and 1.9%, respectively. This puts it on pace for its biggest weekly increase since the week of the U.S. presidential election in November. The Nasdaq Composite Index is up 0.9% since the start of the week, on track for its best one-week performance since early December.
The gains came after investors received a flurry of reports showing inflation pressures easing slightly. The year-on-year rate of increase in the core consumer price index in December was lower than expected, and the producer price index also rose more modestly than expected.
Strong results from major banks, as they look to erase December's weakness that has been carried into early 2025, also pushed stocks higher this week.
This year has gotten off to a rocky start. 10 year government bond yield Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, this week cited the threat of tariffs from the incoming Trump administration and the Fed's uncertain policy on interest rates.
“As a result, we have seen some early indicators that are not very favorable. We have already set a low for this year below last December's low,” he said. “Historically, when there is a low in the first quarter of a new year that is below the previous December low, the rate of increase is like a coin toss, with a frequency of 50%.The average price change is It was a very small drop.”
Stovall added that he expects the stock to trade in a range for the foreseeable future until investors have more clarity on the next market trigger.
Investors are also looking ahead to Donald Trump's inauguration as president for a second time next week. Stocks rose immediately after his November election victory as investors bet on deregulation and tax cuts.
