US stocks open higher; commodity price gains in focus

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Traders gather for the IPO of Singapore-based Sea Limited on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 20, 2017.

U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday as investors remained relatively confident about future economic growth.

Commodity prices, typically an indicator on global growth, held near recent highs. Copper traded 1 percent higher, while oil held just below the psychologically key $60 level.

Trading volume has been low. U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Christmas Day holiday and will be closed this coming Monday for New Year’s Day.

In economic news, the advance trade deficit in goods increased to $69.7 billion in November from $68.1 billion in October.

Weekly jobless claims came in at 245,000 versus expectations of 240,000.

Stocks historically tend to post a “Santa Claus” rally in the last week of December through the first two trading days of January. However, as of Wednesday’s close, the Dow was the only major U.S. stock index on pace for slight weekly gains, which would be its sixth straight week. The last time the Dow rose in each of the final six full weeks of the year was in 1954. That does not include weeks encompassing two different years.

If the S&P 500 is able to finish the week higher, the index would close out the year with six straight weeks of higher trade for the first time the since in 1971.

On a monthly basis, the indexes are tracking for gains not seen in decades. The Dow is on pace for its first nine-month winning streak since 1959 and the S&P is on track for its first nine-month winning streak since 1983.

If the Nasdaq composite finishes December higher, it will have posted gains in 11 of 12 months in 2017, a first for the tech-heavy index.

Overseas, major European indexes traded mildly lower. The Shanghai composite gained 0.6 percent, while the Nikkei 225 fell just over half a percent.

The euro strengthened to trade near $1.194 as the U.S. dollar index fell to its lowest since Dec. 1. The dollar index is down more than 9 percent this year, tracking for its worst year since 2003.

Gold futures for February delivery rose to a high of $1,296.10, their highest since Nov. 29.

— CNBC’s Robert Hum contributed to this report.