U.S. stock futures advanced on Monday after ending their losing streak on Friday. Futures of all four major indices rose in premarket trade.

This is yet another truncated week as the U.S. stock markets will remain closed for former President Jimmy Carter’s “National Day of Mourning” on Thursday, Jan. 9.

The 10-year and two-year Treasury notes yielded 4.61% and 4.27%, respectively. The probability of having no change in the interest rates for the upcoming Jan. 31, 2025 decision was at 90.9%, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

In premarket trading on Monday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was up 0.42% to $594.44 and the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) rose 0.74% to $522.40, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From The Last Session

Following a five-day decline, the longest such streak since April, Wall Street experienced a strong rebound on Friday. Investor confidence returned, driving a surge in market activity. All major indices saw positive returns, with the Nasdaq 100 leading the gains. This broad-based market strength was evident across all S&P 500 sectors.

Furthermore, the latest ISM Manufacturing PMI data surpassed forecasts, indicating a stronger-than-expected manufacturing sector in December. This marks the second month in a row of manufacturing expansion.

U.S. automakers experienced significant price actions following the release of fourth-quarter delivery numbers. The consumer discretionary sector outperformed the consumer staples.

Insights From Analysts

The chief market strategist at Carson Research, Ryan Detrick highlighted in an X post that the average annual returns have been higher 64.7% times in the years that saw the stocks decline on the first or the last day of the year.

The economic week ahead is chockful of labor market indicators for November and December. Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research said, “We’re expecting them to beat expectations. As long as corporate earnings continue to reach new record highs, companies are likely to hire more workers and increase real wages.”

“The Q4-2024 earnings reporting season is about to start, led by the big banks. We expect that during their conference calls, company managements will discuss how AI may be starting to boost their productivity. In effect, they’ll be trying to convince investors that every company is now a technology company either producing AI hardware and software or using them,” added Yardeni.

Talking further about earnings, Louis Navellier of Navellier and Associates said, “Stocks, thankfully, trade on earnings prospects, and those remain solid. The tech giants steering the market generate massive cash flows and are affected little by interest rate levels.”

“The AI potential is very real in terms of promising major productivity gains, though that may come from meaningful reductions in employment needed to get the same functions accomplished,” he added.

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Several important data points will be released in this truncated week that will help investors determine the future course of action.

Stocks In Focus:

Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were lower in the early New York session by 0.04% to hover around $73.93 per barrel.

The gold spot index was down by 0.37% to $2,644.81 per ounce. The Dollar Index was down 0.32% to 108.606 level.

Asian markets were mostly lower on Monday as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Japan’s Nikkei 225, India’s S&P BSE Sensex and China’s CSI 300 index declined. Whereas, in Australia’s ASX 200, South Korea’s Kospi index ended higher. European markets were mixed.

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