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three major Wall Street indexes closed higher on Friday after
data showed that inflation was close to Fed's target. The
indexes also logged their eighth consecutive weekly gains, the
longest winning streak for the S&P 500 since late 2017.
The S&P 500 is now within 1% of its record close reached in
January 2022. Should it close above that level, that will
confirm the benchmark index has been in a bull market since
bottoming out in October 2022.
The only key economic data expected this week is the jobless
claims report on Thursday, with no Fed officials scheduled to
speak.
Commerce Department's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)
report on Friday showed inflation continues to meander down
toward the Fed's average annual 2% target.
"Normally, you wouldn't necessarily cheer a slowdown in 6-month
inflation but because investors are increasingly impatient to
see the Fed cut its interest rates, all metrics are good to
justify the end of the Fed's policy tightening campaign," said
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
Completing the purchase of a stake in Manchester United,
billionaire Jim Ratcliffe will pay $33 a share for a 25% stake
in the club, valuing it at about $5.4 billion, below initial
hopes of $6 billion.
Shares of the British football club soared 5.8% in premarket
trading.
At 5:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 55 points, or 0.15%, S&P
500 e-minis were up 7.75 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were up 36 points, or 0.21%.
Among other movers, Gracell Biotechnologies shot up 59.5% after
AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it will buy the China-based firm for
up to $1.2 billion as the Anglo-Swedish pharma company furthers
its cell therapy ambitions.
Intel Corp rose 1.9% after Israel's government agreed to give it
a $3.2 billion grant for a new $25 billion chip plant it plans
to build in southern Israel, both sides said on Tuesday.
Volumes are likely to remain low during this week with most
market participants on holidays heading into the new year.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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