By Medha Singh
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on Friday, even as Wall Street's main indexes looked to finish the year with handsome gains for the third time in a row, supported by massive stimulus, vaccine rollouts, and strong retail participation.
Futures tracking the S&P 500 and the Dow slipped 0.2% on the last day of 2021, a day after scaling intraday all-time highs.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc slipped half a percent in premarket trading as it recalled more than 475,000 of its Model 3 and Model S electric cars to address rearview camera and trunk issues that increase the risk of crashing.
The S&P 500 and Dow hit all-time highs this week, as optimism from early data suggesting the Omicron variant was less virulent than other strains outweighed worries from record-high surge in U.S. cases and warnings of disruptions ahead.
Aiding sentiment was a string of upbeat data this week, including a report that showed no impact yet of the rampant jump in infections on the U.S. labor market, although market action has been choppy in thin holiday trading.
At 6:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 60 points, or 0.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 8 points, or 0.17%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 30.75 points, or 0.19%.
The S&P 500 is set to exit the year 27% higher, with energy sector's 47.4% jump outperforming all other sector indexes. Real estate and technology sectors, up 44% and 34%, respectively, over the past year, were the next best performers.
As investors prepare to ring in the New Year, fourth-quarter earnings, the pace monetary policy tightening and midterm elections in the U.S. Congress will be key in determining the path forward for stock markets.