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* Nike dips as North America revenue disappoints
* U.S. Steel falls 8% on dour forecast
* November core PCE price index in focus
* Futures up at record highs: Dow 0.14%, S&P 0.12%, Nasdaq
0.25%
(Adds comment)
By Uday Sampath Kumar
Dec 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open nearly
unchanged from record highs on Friday as investors stayed
optimistic that Washington and Beijing would sign a long-awaited
trade treaty early in the new year.
Wall Street hit all-time highs again on Thursday as U.S.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the initial trade deal
had been penned down and would be signed in early January,
dispelling fears of another escalation in the tariff dispute.
Beijing, however, later dodged questions about specific
details of the agreement, giving the market little reason to go
much higher than current levels ahead of the Christmas holidays.
"The skies have cleared up this December to the point where
investors are coming back into the market," said Art Hogan,
chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.
All three major stock indexes have been on a record-setting
run for over a week, carried by improving trade relations
between the world's top two economies and upbeat economic
indicators.
The S&P 500 .SPX has risen over 1% so far this week,
hitting a sixth straight intraday record high in the previous
session. With gains nearly 28% this year, the benchmark index is
eyeing its best annual performance since 2013.
Markets are likely to become volatile during Friday's
session due to "quadruple witching," where investors unwind
positions in futures and options contracts before their
expiration.
At 8:56 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 39 points, or
0.14%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 3.75 points, or 0.12% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 21.5 points, or 0.25%.
Later on Friday, a report from the Commerce Department is
expected to show core personal consumption expenditures price
index rose 0.1% in November.
In one of the last major corporate earnings results of the
year, Nike Inc NKE.N reported lower-than-expected growth in
North American revenue, sending shares of the world's largest
sportswear maker down 1.2% premarket. U.S. Steel Corp X.N tumbled 8% after forecasting a
bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and saying it would
idle a significant part of its operations at a facility near
Detroit.
Boeing Co's BA.N biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems Inc
SPR.N dropped 3.4% after saying it would temporarily halt
production of 737 MAX parts beginning Jan. 1. Boeing shares
dipped 0.3%. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
S&P 500 Records https://tmsnrt.rs/2Q9Pw10
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