Global stocks were modestly higher on Wednesday morning, with the traditional year-end Santa rally kicking in -- and a successful Italian bond auction helping as well.
U.S. stock index futures were higher with about an hour before markets open, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 22 points or 0.2 per cent. Futures for the broader S&P 500 were up 3 points or 0.3 per cent. Both indexes closed on Tuesday relatively flat, in the lightest trading volume of the year.
Overseas, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.7 per cent and Germany's DAX index was up 0.1 per cent in afternoon trading. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.2 per cent in overnight trading.
The moves come during a four-day stretch between Christmas and New Year's Day that has long been thought of as a traditionally good time to hold stocks: Number-crunchers have argued that stocks tend to gain in the final trading days of the year, though the reasons aren't entirely clear.
This time, there are some reasons for enthusiasm. The European sovereign-debt crisis, which has been hanging over stock markets throughout most of the year, has been showing some signs of abating. On Wednesday, an auction of Italian 6-month Treasury bills went well, with high demand and yields falling to an average of 3.25 per cent -- high for short-term government debt, but about half the level of just one month ago.