Wall Street Looks Ahead To Thriving New Year, Might Open Lower

(RTTNews) - On the eve of New Year, the markets are expecting light trading activity. There are not many economic announcements on the day. Major overseas markets will be closed on Friday.

Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower. As of 7.00 am ET, the Dow futures were down 94.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 12.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were edging down 51.00 points.

The U.S. major averages all finished Thursday moderately below the unchanged line. The Dow dipped 90.55 points or 0.3 percent to 36,398.08, the Nasdaq edged down 24.65 points or 0.2 percent to 15,471.56 and the S&P 500 slipped 14.33 points or 0.3 percent to 4,778.73.

On the economic front, the Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is scheduled at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America Rig Count was 719 and the U.S. Rig Count was 586.

Asian stocks ended mixed in thin trade on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.57 percent to 3,639.78 after Chinese companies listed in the U.S. rebounded Thursday following a five-day slump.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.24 percent to close at 23,397.67 in a shortened session.

Australian markets fell in a shortened trading session. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 68.80 points, or 0.92 percent, to 7,444.60 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 64.50 points, or 0.82 percent, at 7,779.20 amid broad-based selling.

European shares are trading mostly lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is declining 28.72 points or 0.40 percent. The German DAX is adding 32.61 points or 0.21 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is sliding 29.51 points or 0.40 percent. The Swiss Market Index is declining 50.90 points or 0.39 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 0.31 percent.