Stock futures little changed on last trading day of 2015
Thomson Reuters
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed in subdued trading on the last day of the year, with the S&P 500 holding on to a small gain for the year.
Global stocks were heading toward a sluggish end to the year, with the fall in oil prices hurting currencies of commodity-rich countries. The dollar index rose marginally against a basket of currencies.
Crude oil prices were set for their second year of steep losses suffering under an unprecedented global glut that may take another year to clear. [O/R]
Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday. Dow Jones industrial average stayed firmly in negative territory for the year, while the Nasdaq Composite was higher.
Energy stocks have taken a beating this year, with the S&P energy sector losing nearly 24 percent this year, followed by a near 10 percent loss by materials .
Eight of the 10 worst performers on the S&P this year are energy companies, led by Chesapeake Energy , which shed nearly 78 percent of its value in 2015.
On the other hand, the consumer discretionary sector has been the best performer on the S&P, rising 9.5 percent in 2015, led by Netflix's 139 percent increase and Amazon's 122 percent gain. * The top three performers on the Dow are also consumer discretionary stocks, with Nike's 32 percent rise taking the lead. * Trading volumes are expected to be thin for the day, and data points sparse, with traders closing off positions for 2015.
Dow component Wal Mart's shares were down half a percent at $62 in very thin premarket trading. * U.S. jobless claims are expected to have increased by 3,000 to 270,000 last week. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Futures snapshot at 7:10 a.m. ET:
Dow e-minis were up 5 points, or 0.03 percent, with 4,693 contracts changing hands.
S&P 500 e-minis were up 1 points, or 0.05 percent, with 23,844 contracts traded.
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2 points, or 0.04 percent, on 6,128 contracts.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)