Equity futures were trading higher as U.S. markets returned to trading following the Christmas holiday.
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Stocks have taken a beating on lingering worries about the economy and caution over persisting political uncertainties, as a federal government shutdown and President Trump’s hostile stance towards the Federal Reserve.
Dow Jones futures were rising by 0.3 percent. The S&P 500 added 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.3 percent.
Markets in Britain, Germany and France will remain closed on Wednesday.
In Asian markets on Wednesday, China’s Shanghai Composite ended the day down 0.3 percent. The index is down 24 percent on the year.
Japan’s Nikkei index closed the day up 0.9 percent, the day after slumping 5 percent.
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was closed.
On the U.S. economic calendar, investors will get the latest read on the housing market with the Case-Shiller report on home prices.
U.S. stocks on Monday posted their worst Christmas Eve session ever, as a perfect storm of concerns drove investors to bail out of a market that was already badly bruised.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | %Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 21792.2 | -653.17 | -2.91% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 2351.1 | -65.52 | -2.71% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 6192.9195 | -140.08 | -2.21% |
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average had its steepest drop on Christmas Eve in its 122-year history. It also was the worst Christmas Eve for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the first time the broader S&P 500 ever had more than a 1 percent drop on Dec. 24. The loss for the S&P 500 put the index into bear market, where it joined the Nasdaq.
Congress missed a midnight Friday deadline for getting a spending bill passed, resulting in a partial government shutdown. No votes are scheduled to end the stalemate until after Christmas.
Monday’s hammering followed a stomach-churning week, when the Dow lost 6.9 percent and the S&P 500 tumbled 7.1 percent. The Nasdaq gave up 8.4 percent, making it the first of the three major averages to fall into bear market territory.
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Concerns about the ability of the markets to handle the sell-off promoted Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin late Sunday to contact the CEOs of the nation’s six largest banks and convene a meeting of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. That group, which includes officials in the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, met to ensure the financial system had adequate liquidity to handle all the selling.
FOX Business’ Mike Obel contributed to this story.
