Apple's court reprieve, Xiaomi's EV move, weak dollar - what's moving markets
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures drift as a strong trading year approaches the close, while Apple is freed to sell its smartwatches, at least for now. Xiaomi looks to move into the crowded Chinese EV market, while crude prices and the dollar continue to head lower.
U.S. stock futures traded in a mixed fashion Thursday, with moves limited as investors prepare for the end of what has been a strong year on Wall Street.
By 05:05 ET (10:05 GMT), the Dow futures contract was just 5 points, or 0.1%, lower, while S&P 500 futures had gained 7 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had risen by 55 points or 0.3%.
The three main indices had another positive session on Wednesday, with the blue-chip DJIA gaining over 110 points, or 0.3%, the broad-based S&P 500 index rising 0.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbing 0.2%.
The averages are all on track to notch their ninth straight winning weeks, in what has been an impressive late rally.
The DJIA and S&P 500 are poised to end 2023 higher by 13% and 24%, respectively, with the latter within 0.5% of its highest closing level, which was set in January 2022. The Nasdaq Composite has jumped an impressive 44%, boosted by a rebound by the mega-cap tech names.
These gains have been driven by raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates early in 2024, and investors will study economic data on jobless claims and pending home sales later in the session for further clues.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) received a boost Wednesday when a U.S. appeals court paused a government commission's import ban on the sales of its flagship smartwatches following a patent dispute with Masimo (NASDAQ:MASI) over its medical monitoring technology.
This decision allows Apple to
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