(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were lower on Thursday in light trading after the Christmas holiday, as investors pulled stocks from their portfolios and looked for a boost for the final month. of the year from the so-called Santa Claus rally.

Heavyweight Nvidia (NASDAQ: ) fell 1.1% in premarket trading, while Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: ) fell 0.5%.

At 05:03 am, the Dow E-minis fell 146 points, or 0.33%, the E-minis fell 26.75 points, or 0.44% and the E-minis fell 118.75 points, or 0.54 %.

Markets in London and parts of Asia were closed on Thursday.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended Tuesday’s truncated session with a third straight session of gains lifted by megacap and growth stocks.

The gains of Apple (NASDAQ: ), Tesla (NASDAQ: ), Alphabet, Amazon (NASDAQ: ), Nvidia, Microsoft (NASDAQ: ) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: ) accounted for more than half of the 28.4% total its S&P 500 return. year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices Senior Index Analyst Howard Silverblatt.

Without the Magnificent Seven stocks, the benchmark index’s total return would be 13.2% in 2024, Silverblatt added.

U.S. stocks hit a sharp bump this month after election-led gains in November as they battled the Federal Reserve’s projection of a modest interest rate cut by 2025.

Investors are hoping for a generally strong finish in the last days of the year – called the “Santa Clause rally” – a pattern attributed to low liquidity, tax loss harvesting and investment in year-end bonuses.

The S&P 500 gained an average of 1.3% over the last five trading days of December and the first two days of January since 1969, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. A December without a Santa rally was followed by a weaker-than-average year, data from LPL Financial (NASDAQ: ) going back to 1950 shows.

The Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims data is due before the market opens on Thursday although claims have entered a period of volatility, which could make it challenging to get a clear view of the job market.

Separately, major banks and business groups sued the Federal Reserve on Tuesday, saying the US central bank’s annual “stress test” of Wall Street firms violated the law.