By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan Dec 24 (Reuters) – Wall Street was set to open nearly flat in shortened Christmas Eve trading on Wednesday, as traders wait to see whether stocks can extend record gains in a seasonally strong stretch for markets. The benchmark S&P 500 hit a record closing high on Tuesday, lifted by megacap technology stocks, while a clutch of data painted a mixed picture of the U.S. economy and kept expectations for monetary easing next year largely intact. The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in the third quarter, according to Tuesday's government data, which was delayed by a 43-day federal shutdown. However, worsening consumer confidence in December and a flat reading on November factory production tempered the outlook. Data on Wednesday showed new applications for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week. "Despite ongoing seasonal volatility, initial jobless claims remain in ranges consistent with relatively steady labor market conditions and don’t change our outlook for the labor market or Fed policy," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead Economist at Oxford Economics. Traders are still pricing in two 25-basis-point interest rate cuts by the end of 2026, as per LSEG data, although they pulled back the odds of such a move in January to 13% from 18% before the data. Recent gains in U.S. stocks have spurred hopes of a "Santa Claus rally", a seasonal phenomenon where the S&P 500 posts gains in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to Stock Trader's Almanac. The period begins on Wednesday and runs through January 5. Wall Street's "fear gauge" was hovering near its lowest since December 2024. Trading volumes are likely to stay thin, with U.S. stock markets set to close at 1 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) on Wednesday and remain shut on Thursday for Christmas. By 8:43 a.m. ET, S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.5 points, or 0.01%, Nasdaq 100 e-minis added 8.75 points, or 0.03% and Dow e-minis climbed 1 point. U.S. equities swung sharply this year as tariff-related headlines, concerns about high valuations in technology and AI companies and rapidly shifting interest-rate expectations boosted volatility. Still, the bull market that began in October 2022 stayed intact as optimism around AI, interest-rate cuts and a resilient economy supported sentiment with all three main indexes set for their third straight yearly gain. In the year ahead, global markets will be closely watching who might replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell, after President Trump said Tuesday that anyone who disagrees with him would "never be the Fed Chairman." Among single stocks, Nike climbed 2.8% in premarket trading after Apple CEO Tim Cook, the sportswear giant's lead independent director, bought about $3 million of shares. Intel fell 3.3% following a report that said Nvidia has halted tests to manufacture on Intel's 18A chipmaking node after initial tests. Dynavax Technologies surged about 40% after French drugmaker Sanofi said it would buy the U.S. vaccines company for around $2.2 billion (1.9 billion euros). (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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