U.S. stock futures rose on the first trading day of the year on Friday after missing the Santa Claus rally over the truncated week. Futures of major benchmark indices were higher.
The Santa Claus trading period, which began on Dec. 24 last week, did not materialize as the S&P 500 declined for the fourth straight session, despite recording gains for 2025.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.15%, and the two-year bond was at 3.46%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing an 85.1% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in January.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.37% |
| S&P 500 | 0.62% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 1.08% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.75% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in premarket on Friday. The SPY was up 0.69% at $686.61, while the QQQ advanced 1.12% to $621.18, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Stocks In Focus
Baidu
- Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) shares jumped 12.20% in premarket on Friday after the company announced its proposed spinoff and separate listing of the H shares of Kunlunxin (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- It maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms with a poor quality ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.
