U.S. stock futures steady despite weak data

U.S. stock futures were steady early Tuesday. This comes after all three major averages started the holiday-shortened trading week in positive territory. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose around 0.7%.

The Nasdaq Composite closed about 1% higher. The S&P 500 also finished up nearly 0.2%. Tech names and semiconductor stocks helped lift the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

Apple jumped more than 2%. Nvidia advanced over 5%. Tesla rose 3.7%.

The New York Stock Exchange closes early at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday for Christmas Eve. The bond market closes at 2 p.m. The market is closed on Wednesday for Christmas Day. Toyota announced it has finalized a joint venture with Nissan.

Xerox said it is entering into a $1.5 billion deal with another firm. However, the day was still impacted by weak economic data. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for December missed estimates.

It came in at 98.7, the lowest level since June.

Stock futures remain stable amid uncertainty

Orders for durable goods also saw a significant decline.

Some investors are hoping for a Santa Claus rally to end what has already been a strong year for the market. These rallies typically occur between the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January. Jay Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Advisors is predicting a stall in the market over the coming days.

He is sticking with his year-end 2024 S&P 500 target of 6,000. This implies only a 0.4% increase from Monday’s close. “We might get a Santa Claus rally, but those aren’t that powerful of rallies,” Hatfield said.

“We’re neutral on the market.”

The major retail ETF is down more than 3% this month. Losers include Macy’s, down 19%, and Gap, off more than 14%. Under Armour is also down 13% in December.

However, Burlington Stores is up nearly 19%. Best Buy and Home Depot shares are each up 16%. Hatfield believes some investors are “too pessimistic about inflation.” He argues that the deflationary impact of the dollar’s gains may offset the effect of tariffs.

The U.S. dollar index has risen more than 6% year to date. U.S. stock futures opened relatively unchanged Monday evening. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures traded just above the flatline.

Dow futures gained 31 points, or about 0.1%.