Futures Pointing To Continued Strength On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Stocks are poised to move to the upside in early trading on Wednesday, the last full day of trading before Christmas. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 86 points.

The markets may benefit from the recent upward momentum on Wall Street, which lifted stocks higher in the two previous sessions.

The gains have partly offset the sharp pullback seen late last week, with traders doing some window dressing as the year winds down.

Strength in the overseas markets may also generate some buying interest, although trading activity may be somewhat subdued ahead of the holidays.

The U.S. stocks markets will close early on Christmas Eve on Thursday and remain closed all day on Christmas Day on Friday.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department recently released a report showing that personal income and spending rose at the same rate in the month of November.

The report said personal income increased by 0.3 percent in November after climbing by 0.4 percent in October. Economists had expected income to edge up by 0.2 percent.

The Commerce Department said personal spending also rose by 0.3 percent in November, while revised data showed sending was unchanged in October. The increase in spending matched economist estimates.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that durable goods orders were virtually unchanged in November after surging up by 2.9 percent in October. Orders had been expected to pull back by about 0.5 percent.