Wall Street eyes triple-digit gains as Christmas countdown begins
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Monday, with Dow futures up over 100 points as traders start to wind down for the last few trading days before the Christmas holiday.
Heading into the final two weeks of the year, limited liquidity is likely to heighten the severity of market moves, particularly during the holiday periods of Christmas and New Year's Eve, when most Western markets will be closed.
Oil prices remained at the forefront of investors' minds as Brent crude oil prices fell to levels last seen in 2004 on Monday, dropping below the lows hit during the 2008 financial crisis on renewed worries over a global oil glut.
Brent futures (Intercontinental Exchange Europe: @LCO.1) hit their lowest level since 2004 and were down about 1.6 percent at $36.28 a barrel as of 8:22 a.m., ET.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) (WTI) futures for January delivery were down 33 cents at $34.40 per barrel and not far from last Friday's 2015 levels, the lowest in nearly seven years. The January contract expires Monday.
On the data front, the only major release to watch Monday was the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, which declined to minus 0.30 in November from minus 0.17 in October.
European markets reversed losses on Monday morning despite the price of brent oil hitting an 11-year low.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) traded around 0.4 percent higher.
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Friday as investors weighed low oil and economic data in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's rate hike Wednesday. Options expiration also contributed to volatility.
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With Friday's late afternoon decline in stocks, the major U.S. averages wiped out gains for the week. Trade volume Friday was the second-highest of the year.
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