Futures flat, Toyota sales, SoftBank windfall - what's moving markets
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures traded largely flat Wednesday, with traders consolidating the year's strong gains in the final week of the year. SoftBank received a hefty windfall in the form of T-Mobile US shares, while Toyota detailed a record November for global sales. The Chinese economy showed signs of life, while the crude market continued to look at the turmoil in the Middle East.
U.S. stock futures traded largely unchanged Wednesday, consolidating after recent gains in the final trading week of the year.
By 05:00 ET (10:00 GMT), the Dow futures contract was up just 3 points, S&P 500 futures had dipped by 1 point, and Nasdaq 100 futures had rise by 2 points.
The three main indices closed higher on Tuesday as traders returned to Wall Street following the Christmas break, although volumes were low. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 160 points, or 0.4%, the broad-based S&P 500 index also rose 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.5%.
These gains add to what has already been a strong year, as investors gained confidence that the Federal Reserve would start cutting interest rates next year, having largely succeeded in getting inflation under control without causing a recession.
With just three sessions left in 2023′s trading year, the DJIA and S&P 500 are poised to end 2023 higher by 13% and 24%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite has jumped an impressive 44%.
SoftBank Group (TYO:9984) announced overnight that it would receive shares in T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) worth some $7.59 billion as part of the conditions set out in the merger agreement of its U.S. telco Sprint and T-Mobile.
The news drove shares in the Japanese conglomerate up more than 4%, their biggest gain in more than
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