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Contracts linked to major US stock indices fell on Thursday night as Wall Street looked set to close the record week in silence.
Dow futures lost 34 points, while S&P 500 futures scored just below the flat line. Nasdaq-100 futures fell 11.75 points, or about 0.1%.
After-hours moves came after a strong display of the Nasdaq Composite earlier in the day during the regular session.
The index rose to another record, with investors betting on strong gains in technology next week. The high-tech benchmark rose 0.6% to close at a new high in large part thanks to a 3.7% pop in Apple shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 had quieter sessions, with the former dropping 12 points and the latter rising less than 0.1% to reach another new high.
Hopes for a season of robust gains from the country’s largest communications and technology stocks have kept the bullish stocks with an upward trend and the main indexes close to records during the shortened week of the holiday.
Apple and Facebook were up 7.7% and 8.6%, respectively, this week ahead of their quarterly results, while Microsoft gained 5.8%.
Wall Street’s eyes are still on Washington as new President Joe Biden works to lay the groundwork for his Covid-19 and its economic recovery agenda.
Investors are increasingly confident that a scaled-down version of Biden’s original $ 1.9 trillion project for coronavirus relief will be considered by Congress. Some moderate senators expressed doubts about the need for another bill, especially one at that price, less than a month after Congress passed a $ 900 billion stimulus in December.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Friday is expected to overwhelmingly confirm former Fed chairman Janet Yellen as Biden’s Treasury secretary. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to lead the department.
In corporate news, IBM shares fell more than 6% in the extended session after the company reported fourth quarter sales below analysts’ expectations. Revenue fell 6% on an annualized basis, the fourth consecutive quarter of declines.