REUTERS. stocks opened
little changed in light trading on Friday as investors gear up for the
Christmas holiday.
Trading volumes have
been muted this week, which is also the last full week of trading this year.
U.S. markets are shut for the Christmas holiday on Monday.
U.S. stocks fell on
Thursday, weighed down by weakness in retailers as investors stepped back from
a recent rally fueled by optimism that President-elect Donald Trump's policies
will boost the economy.
The decline pulled
the Dow Jones Industrial Average further away from the 20,000 mark after it
came very close to breaching the historic level this week.
"With Christmas
this weekend and New Year's just over a week away, global stocks may meander
between losses and gains as investors strategize for 2017," said Lukman
Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM in Croydon, London.
Following a sharp
rally since the Nov. 8 U.S. election, the Dow is up about 14 percent for the
year and the S&P 500 is 11 percent higher on bets that the economy will
benefit from Trump's plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending.
At 9:37 p.m. ET
(1437 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was
down 3.69 points, or 0.02 percent, at 19,915.19.
The S&P 500 .SPX was
up 0.2 points, or 0.008 percent, at 2,261.16.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was
up 2.15 points, or 0.04 percent, at 5,449.58.
Six of the 11 major
S&P sectors were lower, with the materials index's .SPLRCM 0.28 percent
fall leading the decliners.
Oil slipped below
$55 a barrel as a stronger U.S. dollar weighed on commodities and as higher
Libyan output threatened to counter some of the supply cuts planned by OPEC and
other producers. [O/R]
Economic data
scheduled for release includes new home sales for November, which likely
advanced 2.1 percent to 575,000 units after declining 1.9 percent in October.
The data is expected at 10 a.m. ET.
A final reading on
consumer sentiment in December is expected to remain unchanged at 98.0.
Lockheed Martin (LMT.N)
fell 1.3 percent to $249.56 after Trump said he viewed costs for the company's
F-35 fighter as too high and that he had asked Boeing (BA.N) to
offer a price for an older aircraft. Boeing was little changed at $157.58.
U.S.-listed shares
of Credit Suisse CS.S fell 0.9 percent to $14.79, while Deutsche Bank (DB.N)
rose 1.1 percent to $18.74 after the two European lenders were hit with a
combined penalty of more than $12 billion over the sale of U.S. toxic debt.
Cintas (CTAS.O)
fell 3.1 percent to $116.44 after the company's quarterly profit came in below
estimates.
While stocks will
trade for the full day, the U.S. bond market will close at 2 p.m. ET.
Advancing issues
outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,543 to 969. On the Nasdaq, 1,221 issues
rose and 901 fell.
The S&P 500
index showed three new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded
14 new highs and eight new lows.
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