US Shares Lean Towards an Optimistic Open on the Last Trading Day

NEW YORK, N.Y. – As the last trading week of the year gets underway, the US equity futures are in search of more market-moving cues.

Without any massive triggers, most in the global market are trading cautiously on Monday. US stocks have also paused to start the final trading week of 2019. Three of the major futures indexes in the US were little changed from its previous market close and is leaning towards more cautious trading on Monday.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average indexes closed the trading session on Friday in record territory, suggesting that any gains this session will bring the indexes their gain records to three consecutive sessions.

Meanwhile, in the previous session, the Nasdaq index closed with a modest loss, ending its winning streak that has been going on in 11 straight days. The index settled at 15.77 points on Friday, which is slightly lower than its record close on Thursday.

Early on Monday, the S&P 500 index was looking at a 0.11% increase while the Dow Jones is recording a 0.08% advance. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite index was trading 0.17% lower early today.

Elsewhere, most of the shares in the market around Asia and Europe were also edging lower to start the final trading week of the year. However, Chinese benchmark indexes were strengthened due to the increasing expectations of much lower financing costs after the policy conclusion by the central bank.

Without any new major events in the market, the focus of market players remains on the updates and new headlines regarding the trade negotiations between the US and China. Previous reports said that both parties have agreed on phase one of the agreement to end the long-standing trade war, with the signing of the deal scheduled early in January 2020. Investors are also remaining on guard on North Korea.

In Europe, the FTSE index in Britain also edged lower for the day, going down by 0.3%. Paris’ CAC 40 index also declined by 0.3% while the DAX index in Germany went down by 0.6%.

In the Asian market, the Shanghai Composite strengthened, recording a 1.1% increase, mainly boosted by the reduced funding costs following the changes made by the central bank on lending rules. The Chinese central bank previously announced that the new loan-pricing system for the financial institution would be effective starting January. The upcoming loan prime rate will be at 4.15%, down from its current 4.35%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong also gained 0.3%, while the Nikkei index in Japan dropped by 0.8% for its last trading session for 2019.