US stock futures fell on Thursday as trading resumed after the Christmas break, as Wall Street digested one of the week’s only economic data points.

Futures linked to the S&P 500 (IS=F) grew by 0.3%, and those of the highly technological Nasdaq (NQ=F) it also fell 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) lost 0.4%, leading the way to the downside.

Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC-USD) collapsed and fell below the $96,000 level as volatile trading continued. Crypto-linked stocks like MicroStrategy (MSTR) tracked declines.

The markets seemed to be struggling in an attempt to widen the start of the “Santa Claus rally”, which started with a bang on Tuesday. All three major indexes rose around 1%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) are within striking distance of their highs after recouping gains from a Fed-fueled plunge last week.

As Wall Street returns from its holiday break, the regular release of weekly jobless claims took center stage more than usual as the only piece of the jobs puzzle in the jobs report this week

Labor Department data released before the market opened showed weekly jobless claims fell to 219,000 compared with expectations for 223,000. However, continuous claims rose to the highest level since November 2021, a sign that the labor market may be cooling.

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