US Stock Futures Point To Lower Open As Markets Continue To Rally In Last Few Trading Sessions of 2013

While slightly weak futures point to a lower opening on Wall Street, strong economic data such as lower-than-expected jobless claims and the year-end rally could keep stocks going.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.04 percent and futures on the S&P 500 were down 0.14 percent while those on the Nasdaq 100 were down 0.01 percent.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones climbed 0.75 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.47 percent and the Nasdaq 100 went up by 0.33 percent.

In Europe, markets were upbeat with the Stoxx Europe 600 index trading up 0.65 percent while the FTSE 100 was up 0.58 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 was up 0.74 percent while France's CAC-40 was up 0.92 percent.

In Asia too, stocks were mostly positive. Japan’s Nikkei was almost flat, closing up 0.03 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, also nearly flat, ended down 0.06 percent. The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.36 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.28 percent. South Korea’s KOSPI Composite index ended the day up 0.15 percent while India’s BSE Sensex was up 0.56 percent.