Stocks May Extend Recent Upward Move - U.S. Commentary

(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.

The spending component of the report was inadvertently released last night, well ahead of the scheduled release this morning.

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.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders edged down by 0.1 percent in November after rising by 0.5 percent in October. Economists expected ex-transportation orders to be flat.

Among individual stocks, shares of Celgene (CELG) are moving sharply higher in pre-market trading after the biopharmaceutical company settled patent litigation involving its blood cancer drug Revlimid.

Athletic apparel giant Nike (NKE) may also move to the upside after reporting better than expected second quarter earnings.

On the other hand, shares of Micron (MU) are likely to come under pressure after the chipmaker reported first quarter earnings that beat estimates but provided disappointing guidance.

Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, adding to the gains posted in the previous session. With the upward move on the day, the major averages further offset the sharp pullback seen late last week.

The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory but off their highs for the session. The Dow jumped 165.65 points or 1 percent to 17,417.27, the Nasdaq climbed 32.19 points or 0.7 percent to 5,001.11 and the S&P 500 advanced 17.82 points or 0.9 percent to 2,038.97.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Wednesday, although the Japanese markets were closed on the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged up by 1 percent, while Australia's All Ordinaries Index rose by 0.5 percent.

The major European markets have shown substantial moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 2.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 2.1 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 1.9 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.57 to $36.71 a barrel after advancing $0.33 to $36.14 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is currently trading at $1,070.30, down $3.80 from the previous session's close of $1,074.10. On Tuesday, gold fell $6.50.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 120.91 yen compared to the 121.07 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0912 compared to yesterday's $1.0957.