Traders
work
on
the
floor
of
the
New
York
Stock
Exchange.
NYSE
S&P
500
futures
are
near
flat
Tuesday
night
as
investors
eyed
the
benchmark
index’s
approach
to
a
record
high.
Futures
tied
to
the
broad
market
index
and
Nasdaq
100
were
both
little
changed.
Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
futures
lost
18
points,
also
trading
near
the
flatline.
The
moves
follow
a
winning
day
on
Wall
Street
to
kick
off
the
final
trading
week
of
2023.
The
stock
market
was
closed
on
Monday
in
observance
of
Christmas
Day.
Both
the
Dow
and
S&P
500
added
0.4%
each.
That
put
the
latter
within
0.5%
of
its
closing
high,
which
was
seen
in
January
2022.
The
technology-heavy
Nasdaq
Composite
advanced
0.5%.
Meanwhile,
the
more
concentrated
Nasdaq
100
rose
0.6%,
clinching
an
all-time
high
and
record
closing
level
at
16,878.46.
These
gains
add
to
what’s
already
been
a
strong
year
for
the
stock
market.
With
just
three
sessions
left
in
2023’s
trading
year,
the
Dow
and
S&P
500
are
poised
to
end
2023
higher
by
13%
and
24%,
respectively.
The
Nasdaq
Composite
has
jumped
44%,
outperforming
amid
mega-cap
technology’s
rebound
and
the
artificial
intelligence
craze.
Stocks
are
in
the
thick
of
what’s
referred
to
as
the
“Santa
Claus
rally,”
a
period
comprised
of
the
last
five
trading
days
of
an
ending
year
and
first
two
of
a
new
one.
The
S&P
500
has
risen
about
1.3%
over
this
timeframe
on
average,
according
to
data
going
back
to
1950
from
the
Stock
Trader’s
Almanac.
There’s
been
“enthusiasm”
in
the
market
recently,
said
Scott
Wren,
senior
global
market
strategist
at
the
Wells
Fargo
Investment
Institute.
And
“it
doesn’t
surprise
me
that
it
would
continue
this
week.”
Still,
he
said
the
market
may
be
overly
optimistic,
especially
if
the
Federal
Reserve
begins
cutting
interest
rates
later
than
traders
anticipate.
The
market
is
pricing
in
a
more
than
70%
probability
of
a
decrease
to
interest
rates
at
the
central
bank’s
March
meeting,
according
to
CMEGroup’s
FedWatch
tool.
Investors
will
watch
on
Wednesday
for
economic
data
on
the
manufacturing
industry.
