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U.S. equity futures edged higher in early Tuesday trading, while Treasury yields steadied and the dollar slipped, as investors looked to the first of a series of job market data releases that could test the market’s early January rally.
Stocks ended firmly higher on Monday, with megacap tech names, and a fresh record high for Nvidia (NVDA) once again pacing gains and lifting the S&P 500 to a 0.55% advance by the close of trading.
The Nasdaq, meanwhile, jumped 1.24% as the tech sector continues to dominate investor sentiment while stoking worries of an overreliance on the so-called Magnificent 7.
Nvidia shares, as well as the broader semiconductor space, are likely to be back in focus today following a keynote address by CEO Jensen Huang to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last night.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled plans for a raft of new AI efforts during a keynote address to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last night.
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Huang revealed new gaming chips, an AI-powered laptop and plans to infuse the new technology across a broad range of industrial segments. Shares in the tech giant were last marked 1.6% higher in premarket trading.
The Labor Department will release it November job openings report later this morning, the first of four data releases over the week that concludes with Friday’s December non-farm payrolls update.
Economists are expecting to see a modest uptick in unfilled positions over the month, with a headline tally of 7.73 million, but are likely to focus on the so-called quits rate to determine labor market momentum into the final weeks of last year.
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Bond markets will also be in focus with the sale of $39 billion in re-opened 10-year notes later this morning, following on from a mixed auction of 3-year paper last night that drew solid domestic demand but saw a lag in foreign bidder interest.
Benchmark 10-year note yields were little changed at 4.642% heading into the start of the New York trading session, with 2-year notes easing back to 4.274%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.26% lower at 107.972 as the euro popped modestly higher following a faster-than-expected reading for December inflation across the eurozone area.
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Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied the S&P 500 are indicting a modest 6 point opening bell gain while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are priced for a 45 point bump.
The tech-focused Nasdaq is called 17 points higher with Nvidia, Micron Technology (MU) , Plug Power (PLUG) and Tesla (TSLA) active in premarket trading.
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In overseas markets, the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark nudged 0.15% higher in Frankfurt while Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.21% in mid-day London trading.
Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 followed last night’s rally on Wall Street with a solid 1.97% gain, helped in part by a weaker yen and rising chip stocks, while the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark rose 0.19% into the close of trading.
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