Sentiment on Wall Street appears to remain upbeat, as indicated by the index futures, which point to a higher opening in the truncated session on Friday. The domestic markets may play a catch up to the gains in the overseas markets yesterday, as optimism over the Chinese economy and Greece receiving another tranche of financing well in time to avert a crisis brought about some relief in the markets. That said, macroeconomic concerns may continue to remain an undercurrent, as the gains seen much of last week primarily hinged on hopes.
As of 6:30 pm ET, the Dow futures are up 15 points, the S&P 500 futures are adding 0.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are advancing 6 points.
There are no major economic reports due today, while corporate news flow for the day is also light.
U.S. stocks advanced on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, with some support emerging from the weekly jobless claims data that fell in line with expectations. The major averages opened little changed and saw a volatile trend until the afternoon. Thereafter, the averages moved decisively higher and then began consolidating for the rest of the session.
The Dow Industrials ended up 48.38 points or 0.38 percent at 12,837 and the S&P 500 Index closed 3.22 points or 0.23 percent higher at 1,391, while the Nasdaq Composite Index ended at 2,927, up 9.87 points or 0.34 percent.
Asian stocks ended on a mixed note, with the Australian, Indian, Indonesian and Malaysian markets closing lower, while the Taiwanese, South Korean, Singaporean, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Chinese markets ended in positive territory. The Japanese market was closed for a public holiday. Trading activity was subdued due to the holiday in Japan and the lack of cues from Wall Street overnight and some traders chose to take profits after yesterday's gains.
Australia's All Ordinaries languished below the unchanged in line for the bulk of the session before closing down 0.90 points or 0.02 percent at 4,432. Energy, healthcare and material stocks saw weakness, while utilities gained ground.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed at 21,886, up 142.45 points or 0.66 percent and the Chinese Shanghai Composite Index added 11.77 points or 0.58 percent before closing at 2,027. Meanwhile, the Taiwanese Weighted Average rallied over 3 percent. In Taiwan, a government statement that sought buying of beaten down stocks by government funds dictated the mood.
European stocks are little changed in volatile trading, while the euro is trading firm at a three-week high after a report showed German business confidence rose unexpectedly in November. According to the latest survey results from the Ifo Institute, the headline business climate index rose to 101.4 in November from 100 in the previous month.
Reports suggest that the deadlock over Greek financing may be resolved by Monday. Meanwhile, there has been discord among EU member states on the region's long-term budget, with the debate over nearly EUR 1 trillion spending framework for 2014-2020 being carried into Friday. U.K. has been pushing hard for a budget rebate and deeper spending reductions and France, along with Poland, looked for more farm subsidies.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.