Stock futures declined early Friday after major averages posted solid gains so far this holiday week. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 120 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.3% each. These moves follow thin trading action in Thursday’s regular session. The 30-stock Dow eked out a narrow gain for its fifth winning day, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended the session just below the flatline. The three major U.S. indexes are in the green week to date after posting strong back-to-back gains at the start of the shortened holiday week. The S&P 500 is up 1.8% so far this week. The broad market index posted its best Christmas Eve performance since 1974 on Tuesday, according to Bespoke. The Dow has gained 1.1% this week, and a run-up in megacap tech stocks has pushed the Nasdaq Composite 2.3% higher. Although trading has been muted this week, investors hope stocks will surge into the new year, spurred by the so-called “Santa Claus rally.” This refers to the market’s tendency to rise in the final five trading days of the year and the first two in January. Since 1950, the S&P 500 has returned 1.3% on average during this period, outpacing the market’s average seven-day return of 0.3%, according to LPL Financial. “The nation is experiencing a collective sigh of relief after navigating through a contentious election cycle and unusual market dynamics to end 2024 with strong year-to-date gains,” said Todd Ahlsten, chief investment officer at Parnassus Investments. “Looking ahead to 2025, the markets are expected to broaden and improve.” In December, the Nasdaq is on pace for a 4.2% advance, lifted by a jump in Tesla and Alphabet shares, as well as by a rally in Apple that’s brought the iPhone maker closer to a $4 trillion market cap. The S&P 500 is toting a nearly 0.1% gain on the month. The Dow is on pace for its worst month since April, with a roughly 3.5% decline. Treasury yields were slightly higher early Friday after a mixed set of data on weekly jobless claims. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was 3 basis points higher at 4.607%, slightly down from its peak earlier in the week but back above the 4.6% level it had not breached since May. The 2-year Treasury was fractionally higher at 4.334%. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Friday, as some markets return from the Boxing Day holiday and investors assessed economic data from the region. China’s industrial profits extended declines to a fourth straight month, dropping 7.3% in November from a year earlier, signaling that Beijing’s stimulus measures have yet to meaningfully stem the slide in corporate earnings. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.39% while mainland China’s CSI 300 closed 0.16% lower to 3,981.03. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.8% to close at 40,281.16, while the Topix added 1.26% to 2,801.68. South Korea’s Kospi slid 1.02% while the Kosdaq traded 1.43% lower to close at 2,404.77 and 665.97 respectively, as the country’s political opposition is set to vote on a motion seeking to impeach the acting president. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to close at 8,261.8 as trading resumed after Christmas and Boxing Day holidays. Oil prices rose 1% on Friday and was on track for a weekly gain, spurred by expectations of a stimulus-driven economic recovery in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, and by forecasts of lower U.S. inventories. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected U.S. crude stocks to have declined by about 1.9 million barrels last week and market sources said the American Petroleum Institute put the decline at 3.2 million barrels. Brent crude futures were up 68 cents, or 0.9%, at $73.94 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 71 cents, or 1%, from Thursday’s close to $70.33. Gold prices eased on Friday but were set for a weekly gain as investors gravitated towards safe-haven assets amid political uncertainty in the Middle East, overshadowing pressure from a firmer dollar. Spot gold fell 0.3% to $2,625.77 per ounce. Bullion has gained 0.2% so far this week. U.S. gold futures were down 0.5% to $2,641.4.