Stock futures inch higher
U.S. stock futures moved slightly higher on Thursday, as investors continued to keep a close eye on trade developments. Wall Street was closed on Christmas but will open for normal trading hours today. However, most European markets including the London Stock Exchange are closed for the day.
At around 5:30 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures indicated a gain of 35.5 points, or 0.12% to 28,543.5. The S&P 500 futures were seeing rising 4.87 points, or 0.15% to 3,230.62 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 11 points, or 0.13% to 8,740.50.
China says it’s in close touch with the U.S. on a trade deal signing event
Meanwhile, Chinese officials said on Christmas that they are in close touch with the Trump administration on a trade deal signing ceremony according to Reuters.
“Both sides’ economic and trade teams are in close communication about detailed arrangements for the deal’s signing and other follow-up work,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular briefing.
Beijing made the announcement a day after President Trump said that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will hold a ceremony to sign their so-called phase-one trade deal. Xi held a phone call with Trump last week, noting that the trade agreement benefits both countries and the entire world.
Amazon holiday shopping season breaks all previous records
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) revealed in a statement early Thursday that the holiday shopping season surpassed all previous records. The e-commerce giant said billions of items were ordered worldwide and tens of millions of Amazon devices purchased worldwide.
Amazon also claimed that it recorded a rise in its Prime category during the holiday quarter, with more users signing up for the service compared with any previous holiday quarter.
Shares of Amazon have gained less than 1% over the past three months. The stock was down less than a percent to 1,789.21 apiece in premarket trade.
