Stock Market Today: Futures Rise as Investors Try Again for Santa Claus Rally

Stock futures rise as investors look past Thursday's steep losses and set sights on a last-minute Santa Claus rally ahead of the Christmas holiday break.

Stock futures were higher in premarket trading on Friday as investors looked to dust themselves off from Thursday's losses and try again for a down-to-the-wire Santa Claus rally.

Dow futures traded 82 points higher, or 0.25%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.23%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury was up 1 basis point at 3.6856% in early New York trading, while the yield on the policy sensitive 2-year Treasury was little changed at 4.2636%. Yields and prices move inversely.

Stocks ended sharply lower Thursday, dashing hopes of a last-minute Santa Claus rally, after strong consumer confidence data failed to offset negative news about future chip demand from Micron Technology  (MU) - Get Free Report. 

Those moves came as concerns of a recession resurged, piling coal on some investors’ hopes for a year-end Santa Claus rally -- a traditional period of gains ahead of the Christmas holiday. Investors are concerned that over-tightening from central banks worldwide could force the economy into a downturn.

Additional concerns about a rapid increase in Covid cases in China following the government's recent about-face on its zero-Covid policy and whether the global economy will stall out even more come January also weighed on stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the trading day Thursday down 348 points, or 1.09%, at 33,027, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.45%, with all S&P 500 sectors  finishing lower, led to the downside by consumer discretionary. The tech-focused Nasdaq lost 2.18%.

Investors dusted off their holiday sweaters on Friday in an attempt to recoup losses from what is shaping up to be the worst year for stocks since 2008. 

A November report to be released Friday morning will help investors gauge the health of consumer spending and other household finances as a year of high inflation and rising interest rates draws to a close.

The Commerce Department will release spending, income, saving and inflation figures at 8:30 a.m. ET. The report will offer a picture of how consumers did in November as the holiday season got under way, including spending on services such as travel and medical care.

The report also includes the personal-consumption expenditures price index, a gauge of inflation that is closely watched by the Federal Reserve. Economists estimated that the core PCE-price index, which excludes volatile food and energy items, rose 4.6% in November from a year earlier, down from 5% in October.

Economists and investors also will be watching the month-to-month change in the index. The core PCE-price index increased 0.2% in October from the prior month, down from 0.5% increases in August and September.

Among specific stocks, investors will be keeping an eye on shares of electric car maker Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Free Report after CEO Elon Musk signaled he would not sell any Tesla stock for a minimum of 18-24 months. The chief executive has liquidated more than $39 billion in the company’s shares since the stock peaked in November 2021.

Facebook parent Meta  (META) - Get Free Report shares will also be in the spotlight after the social media giant agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit that claimed it gave third parties access to user data without their consent.

And shares of Microsoft  (MSFT) - Get Free Report also will be on investors’ radars after the software maker on Thursday filed its response to U.S. regulators’ antitrust case attempting to block it from buying video-game publisher Activision Blizzard  (ATVI) - Get Free Report, saying that the deal will not harm competition.

The Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to the proposed $68.7 billion acquisition stands out as the biggest government pushback Microsoft has dealt with on home turf since facing off against the Justice Department two decades ago over the dominance of Windows in the operating system market.