The Trust Layer for Market Analysts

United States stock futures are experiencing a slight dip amidst investor concerns regarding the artificial intelligence sector's impact on earnings. Despite this, the S&P 500 has seen a gain of approximately 16% this year, with December typically being a strong month. The Dow futures are down by about 0.5%, S&P 500 futures have dropped 0.6%, and NASDAQ futures fell 0.7%, reflecting caution due to potential interest rate moves. Last week saw major indices posting gains of over 3%, with the S&P 500 and Dow closing November positively, though NASDAQ ended the month down. Shares of CME Group edged higher, despite a recent outage. Black Friday online spending surged to an all-time high of $11.8 billion, increasing 9.1% from last year. Oil prices rose sharply, with Brent crude up nearly 2% following OPEC Plus's decision to hold output steady through the first quarter of 2026. The Japanese yen strengthened against the dollar after the Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda indicated policy makers are considering a rate hike. China’s factory activity fell for the 8th consecutive month.