Dec 23 (Reuters) – Wall Street futures ticked higher on Tuesday as investors awaited the year’s final batch of key economic data for clues that could reshape expectations for potential interest rate cuts next year.
A rebound in technology stocks and a cooler-than-expected November inflation report have fueled U.S. stocks in the past three sessions, bringing the benchmark S&P 500 within the 0.5% of its December 11 record close.
The preliminary U.S. GDP data, which was delayed by a record government shutdown, is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Commerce Department’s data is likely to show the U.S. economy grew at a brisk 3.3% annualized rate in the third quarter, driven by solid consumer spending and business investment.
It is also likely to confirm what economists call a K-shaped economy, in which higher-income households are doing well, while middle- and lower-income are barely staying afloat.
Consumer confidence data for December is also due later in the day.
Traders are pricing in at least two 25-basis-point interest rate cuts next year, according to LSEG data, while assigning an 18% chance of the first reduction coming as early as January.
Recent gains in U.S. stocks have spurred hopes of a “Santa Claus rally”, a seasonal phenomenon in which the S&P 500 posts gains in the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days in January, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.
This year, that period starts on Wednesday and runs through January 5.
The CBOE Volatility index, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, held near a one-year low at 14 points.
By 6:02 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis were up 2.75 points, or 0.04%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis added 15.75 points, or 0.06%, while Dow E-minis were up 1 point.
Eli Lilly dipped 1.1% in premarket trading, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss pill.
U.S.-listed shares of precious metal miners extended their recent gains, after gold and silver prices surged to all-time highs against a weakening dollar and as geopolitical tensions buoyed safe-haven demand.
Shares of Harmony Gold Mining, Hecla Mining and Endeavour Silver rose between 1.5% and 2.1%.
U.S. military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls jumped 4.5% after President Donald Trump announced plans for a new “Trump class” of battleships, which he said would be larger, faster and “100 times more powerful” than any previously built.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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