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Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures were largely steady on Sunday evening after Wall Street ended sharply higher last week boosted by technology stocks, while investors awaited crucial jobs data due later next week.
were largely steady at 5,991.00 points, while inched up 0.1% to 21,529.75 points by 19:15 ET (00:15 GMT). were largely unchanged at 43,028.0 points.
Markets will see another shortened week of trading as the New York Stock Exchange will be closed on Thursday to honor the passing of former President Jimmy Carter.
Markets await Fed meeting minutes, jobs data for fresh rate outlook clues
for the Federal Reserve’s Dec 17-18 meeting are due on Wednesday and Fed speakers will include Thomas Barkin, Jeffrey Schmid and Patrick Harker.
This could help markets further gauge the Fed’s interest rate outlook, where it has signaled fewer rate cuts this year in the face of sticky inflation, and a resilient economy.
December is due on Friday. The employment data is expected to show that the U.S. economy added 154,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.2%.
The U.S. has a packed economic calendar for the week starting starting Dec. 6, featuring the December , final , data, , November and trade figures, and .
Tech stocks jump after falling at year-end; lead Wall St higher
Tech stocks rebounded on Friday from the losses in the last week of 2024. Investors had capitalized on the strong yearly gains at December end, which typically sees positive movements due to the “Santa Rally”.
On Friday, the rose 0.8% to 42,732.13, the gained 1.3% to 5,942.47 points, while the gained 1.8% to 19,621.68 points.
Among “Magnificent Seven” megacaps, market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) jumped 4.5%, while Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:) shares more than 8% on Friday.
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:) also ended higher, while Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:) shares gained 2%.
“In 2025, we expect the S&P 500 will return 11%, rising to 6500 by year-end. Earnings growth will be the main driver of returns,” Goldman Sachs analyst said in a recent note.
