Wall St futures ease as strong holiday-shortened week draws to a close By Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday at the end of a short, favorable holiday week for Wall Street’s main indexes, driven by expectations around a traditionally strong period for markets.

The Dow closed higher for a sixth straight session in thin year-end trade on Thursday, while higher U.S. Treasury yields weighed on some heavyweight tech and growth stocks.

The Dow E-minis were down 119 points, or 0.27%, and the E-minis were down 22 points, or 0.36%, at 5:09 a.m. ET on Friday.

Futures tracking the tech-laden fell 92.25 points, or 0.42%, as Nvidia ( NASDAQ: ) fell 0.8% in premarket trade and Tesla ( NASDAQ: ) fell 1.4 in %.

The S&P 500 recouped most of last week’s losses as the U.S. Federal Reserve forecast fewer rate cuts in 2025 and hurt risk appetite.

The benchmark index is now eyeing its best week in seven and is about 1% below its all-time high of 6,099.97 reached on December 6.

With three sessions left in the year, investors are hoping for all-time highs in the stock-buying season dubbed the “Santa Claus Rally,” the last five sessions of December and the first two of January.

Since 1969, the S&P 500 has risen an average of 1.3% over a seven-day trading period, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

Trading volume this holiday-shortened week was below the six-month average and is likely to remain until January 6. The next major focus for markets will be the December employment report, due out on January 10.