Wall Street is set to open higher on Friday, a few days ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration, although investors may wish to limit their risk-taking as they await the new American president's first concrete announcements.
Half an hour before the opening, futures on the main New York indices were up by between 0.5% and 1%, heralding a green start to the session.
US equity markets set a string of records at the end of last year in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, who promised to cut taxes and deregulate many sectors.
But Wall Street has been consolidating horizontally for almost a month, awaiting further details of the new administration's policies, particularly on trade.
Since January 1, the S&P 500 - the benchmark index for US fund managers - has risen by less than 1%, while the Euro STOXX 50 has gained more than 5% in the same period.
The New York businessman will be officially inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on Monday.
The good news is that he will inherit a robust economy, supported by a healthy labor market", emphasize the teams at Swiss bank J.Safra Sarasin.
His promises of deregulation and the prospect of new tariffs, however, point to an inflationary policy that could push the Fed to slow down its rate cuts.
With the economy close to full employment and inflation tending to pick up, continued monetary easing seems less relevant under current conditions.
"Investors need clarity on Trump's plans before deploying their capital", wrote Barclays strategists this morning.
While waiting for Trump, the market reacted favorably to the latest real estate statistics.
The Commerce Department reported this morning a 15.8% jump in housing starts in December, reflecting a much-improved housing market.
U.S. building permits - which are supposed to be a precursor of future housing starts - fell by 0.7%.
Industrial production figures, due in a few minutes, should show that the manufacturing sector recovered slightly in December.
On the government bond market, the US ten-year yield continued its decline to around 4.58%, moving further away from the peak of over 4.80% recorded at the start of the week.
Oil, whose surge was one of the highlights of the start of the year, consolidated but still remained close to its highest levels since last summer.
U.S. light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) is currently down 0.3% at $78.4, but remains on course for a fourth consecutive week of gains, with weekly gains of over 2%.
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