US Stock Futures Edge Higher Following Christmas Holiday

New York (Dec 27)  Stock futures were higher on Tuesday morning as Wall Street prepares for a slow week between Christmas and New Year.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.11%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.02%, and Nasdaq futures increased 0.11%.

The Dow will be on watch this week as it moves closer to the 20,000 milestone, as it recently rose to within 15 points of the milestone but has since retreated. On Friday, the Dow closed at 19,934, up 0.07%, after hitting the 19,000 mark on Nov. 22.

Crude oil prices were slightly up as prices have rebounded following an agreement from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil producers to decrease global oil supplies.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.25% to $53.15 a barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, the global benchmark, traded at $55.14, down 0.04%.

On the economic calendar, the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller home price index for October will be released at 9 a.m., providing data on the residential housing market. Consumer confidence data for December will be released by the Conference Board at 10 a.m., showing how consumers feel about the economy.

Tesla Motors  (TSLA)  and Panasonic, in a joint statement, said that the companies have agreed to work together on the construction of a Gigafactory, a large-scale battery manufacturing plant in the United States. Panasonic will spend 30 billion yen ($256 million) in the New York cylindrical lithium-ion cells facility, which both companies said will employ 6,500 workers by 2020. Shares of Tesla were down 0.01% to $213.32 in premarket trading.

Italy's oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, is reported to need a bailout of €8.8 billion ($9.2 billion), according to the European Central Bank. This comes as the bank continues to struggle with liquidity problems. The ECB said that Monte dei Paschi's capital reserves are larger than previously estimated.

Source: TheStreet