Stock futures edged up in overnight trading Sunday as the market gears up for a holiday-shortened trading week. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 100 points. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.4%. Trading is expected to be relatively muted during the week. The New York Stock Exchange closes early Tuesday for Christmas Eve at 1 p.m. ET, and the market is shut on Christmas Day. Investors are hopeful that a so-called Santa Claus rally may help the market end 2024 on a high note, especially following a tumultuous week. Dating back to 1969, the S&P 500, on average, added 1.3% in the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. The second half of December is also typically the second-strongest period of the year for U.S. equities, and the S&P 500 has been up 83% of the time in December of presidential election years, according to Bank of America. “With the market’s primary uptrends still intact, we are not giving up on the potential for a Santa Claus to come to Broad & Wall this year,” Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler, said in a note. The market is coming off a rollercoaster ride that saw the blue-chip Dow suffer a 10-day losing streak, its longest since 1974. The Dow tumbled 1,100 points last Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled fewer rate cuts for 2025 than previously projected. A cooler-than-expected inflation reading helped stocks recoup some of the losses. Month-to-date, the 30-stock Dow is down 4.6% in December, while the S&P 500 is off 1.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite bucked the downtrend, rising 1.8% this month. On the politics front, President Joe Biden signed a government funding bill on Saturday that averted a government shutdown. The bill funds federal agencies at current levels for the next three months. Treasury yields inched higher early Monday as the holiday-shortened trading week began. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was 1 basis point higher at 4.536%, while the 2-year Treasury was up 1 basis point at 4.325%. Asia-Pacific markets started the holiday-shortened Christmas week on a positive note, with investors awaiting the official announcement related to the merger of Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.19% to 39,161.34, while the Topix rose 0.92% to 2,726.74. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.57% and closed at 2,442.01, and the small-cap Kosdaq rose 1.64% and finished at 679.24. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.67% to close at 8,201.6. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.74% in its final hour, while mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 0.15% to end at 3,933.57. Oil prices inched higher on Monday, along with other risk assets, after U.S. data showed cooling inflation, reviving hopes of further policy easing next year that will support global economic growth and oil demand. Brent crude futures rose 26 cents, or 0.4%, to $73.20 a barrel by 0141 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 31 cents, or 0.5%, to $69.77 per barrel. Spot gold edged higher on Monday, supported by short covering after a weekly loss on Friday due to the Federal Reserve’s cautious stance on rate cuts in the upcoming year. Spot gold was up 0.2% to $2,626.44 per ounce, as of 0313 GMT. U.S. gold futures eased 0.1% to $2,642.10.