US pre-open: Stocks to nudge higher in quiet trade

US stocks pointed to a marginally higher open on Wall Street, with the Dow edging closer to the 20,000 mark in what should be a fairly quiet day's trade.

At 1115 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all up 0.1%.

Meanwhile, oil prices retreated, with West Texas Intermediate down 0.6% to $50.60 a barrel and Brent crude down 0.4% to $53.83.

Lee Wild, head of equity strategy at Interactive Investor, said: “Seems the mid-week dip on a more hawkish Federal Reserve was just a chance for a breather. The US economy is fit enough to absorb a number of rate hikes next year and, like Brexit, Trump and Italy before it, Fed tightening is no reason to sell. Traders are not minded to bet against president-elect Donald Trump just yet either.

“There's lots not to like about Trump and, historically, new presidents have faced recession within one year of taking office. But, for now at least, the promise of massive tax cuts and a splurge on infrastructure projects is keeping investors on side. Things will get interesting once Trump takes his seat in the Oval Office.”

The dollar was down 0.3% against the euro, 0.2% against the pound and 0.1% versus the yen, steadying after it surged on the back of the Federal Reserve’s more hawkish than expected rate outlook on Wednesday.

In corporate news, Netflix could be in focus after the company announced late on Thursday that it has inked an exclusive deal to stream all the films of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Elsewhere, software company Oracle Corp was in the red in pre-market trade after its second-quarter earnings on Thursday narrowly beat estimates, but revenue missed.

US-listed shares of TiGenix NV rose sharply a day after it priced its IPO.

On the data calendar, housing starts are due at 1330 GMT. Societe Generale noted housing starts surged by 25.5% in October to 1.323 million units (annualised), the highest level since 2007, as one-unit starts climbed by 10.7% and groundbreaking activity on apartment buildings jumped by 68.8%.

“Given that the percentage gain in housing starts was the largest since July 1982, and that it was driven in large part by the volatile multi-family sector, housing starts in November likely retraced a portion of their October advance, perhaps falling back to around 1.220 million units (-7.8% month-on-month,” the bank said.