S&P 500 futures were flat early Tuesday after all three major averages kicked off the holiday-shortened trading week in the green. Futures linked to the broad market index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures remained around the flatline. Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.04%. This comes amid what is expected to be a more toned-down week for trading activity. On Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange closes early at 1 p.m. ET for Christmas Eve, while the bond market closes at 2 p.m. The market is also closed on Wednesday for Christmas Day. Monday was a relatively sparse day of trading, with the S&P 500 rising around 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite closing about 1% higher. The 30-stock Dow also finished up nearly 0.2%. Tech names and semiconductor stocks were among the big winners of the day, lifting the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Meta Platforms jumped more than 2% and Broadcom advanced more than 5%, while Nvidia rose 3.7%. Elsewhere, Honda and Xerox each finished the session more than 12% higher. The Japanese automaker announced it has entered into official merger talks with fellow Japanese automaker Nissan. Xerox said it is going to buy printer maker Lexmark in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. That said, the day was still affected by weak economic data. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 104.7 in December. The reading missed the Dow Jones estimate of 113.0 and marked the index’s lowest level since September’s reading of 98.7. Additionally, orders for durable goods fell 1.1% in November, which is the largest month-over-month decline since June. With few trading days in store, some investors are hoping for a Santa Claus rally to conclude what has already been a strong year for the market. And that’s not completely out of the ordinary. According to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, the S&P 500 has gained 1.3% on average between the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, dating back to 1969. But Jay Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Advisors is calling for a bit of a stall in the market over the coming days. He is sticking with his year-end 2024 S&P 500 target of 6,000, which implies only a 0.4% increase for the broad market index from Monday’s close. “We might get a Santa Claus rally, but those aren’t that powerful [of] rallies,” the firm’s CEO told CNBC. “We’re neutral on the market.” Treasury yields retreated on Tuesday in a holiday-shortened trading session ahead of the Christmas break. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was 12 basis points lower at 4.586%, while the 2-year Treasury was down 9 basis points at 4.340%. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Christmas Eve, after key U.S. benchmarks rose overnight, helped by gains in tech stocks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.32% to close at 39,036.85 as minutes of the Bank of Japan’s October meeting showed that members agreed to stick with raising rates if the economic and inflation outlook was met. Japanese automaker Honda surged 12.69%, while Nissan shares rose over 5%, a day after they announced starting formal discussions to merge, paving the pay to create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales. Discussions are set to conclude in June 2025. South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.06% to close at 2,440.52 while the Kosdaq was 0.13% higher to close at 680.11. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.08% to close at 20,098.29, while mainland China’s CSI 300 added 1.27% to close at 3,983.69. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.24% higher at 8,220.9 in a shortened trading day. Oil prices were up on Tuesday in thin trade ahead of the Christmas Day holiday, with prices supported by U.S. economic data and rising oil demand in India, the world’s third-largest oil importer. Brent crude futures were up 33 cents, or 0.45%, to $72.95 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 29 cents, or 0.42%, to $69.53 a barrel at 0114 GMT. Gold prices edged higher on Tuesday, as investors braced for a less aggressive path of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year, in a holiday-truncated trading week. Spot gold ticked up 0.1% to $2,616.13 per ounce, as of 0307 GMT. U.S. gold futures steadied at $2,629.80. Trading volumes will likely thin out as the year-end approaches.