Investing.com – Wall Street is on track to open higher on Friday in the last day of trading for the year.
The S&P 500 futures rose nine points or 0.34% as of 6:41 AM ET (11:41 GMT) while Dow futures increased 60 points or 0.24%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was up over 17 points or 0.27%.
With no major economic data set for release, all three U.S. indices were set for gains, despite thin trading before the New Year’s Day holiday weekend. In the last day of trading for U.S. stocks, the Dow was on track for annual gains of more than 25%, the S&P 500 was up 20%, while the Nasdaq Composite led the pack with a rally of around 29%.
IT firm Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, rising 7.25% while British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) PLC ADR (NYSE:BTI) gained 1.37%. General Electric (NYSE:GE) inched forward 0.29% while mining firm Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) rose 1.40% and electronic firm GAIN Capital Holdings Inc (NYSE:GCAP) increased 20.81%.
Meanwhile wireless charging firm Energous Co (NASDAQ:WATT) surged 3.74%. The company has jumped over 271% in the past week after the Federal Communications Commision approved its power-at-a-distance transmitter, which charges devices from a range of up to three feet.
Elsewhere Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) was down 1.03% while luxury Italian car maker Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) fell 0.81% and telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) fell 0.42%.
In Europe stocks were mostly down. Germany’s DAX fell 39 points or 0.48% while in France the CAC 40 decreased eight points or 0.16% and in London, the FTSE 100 inched forward 28 points or 0.37%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 was down 10 points or 0.30% while Spain’s IBEX 35 lost 35 points or 0.35%.
In commodities, gold futures rallied 0.15% to $1,299.10 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.45% to $60.11 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.31% to 92.05.