Investing.com - Stocks opened slightly higher Friday as investors weighed the possibility of a federal government shutdown.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, while the Dow gained 0.45% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.45%.
But trading could see some sharp swings today. Volume is expected to be low as many investors get a jump on the Christmas holidays. And it’s quadruple witching day, when stock options, stock index options, stock index futures and single stock futures expire, adding to volatility.
Much of Wall Street’s attention will be focused on Washington, as the Senate is set to vote on a spending bill passed by the House that includes funding for a border wall demanded by President Donald Trump.
Trump tweeted this morning that if the bill is not passed the federal government faces a “very long” partial shutdown.
"The indices are headed for another volatile, negative session as options expirations, turmoil in the White House and a renewed possibility of a partial government shutdown continue to shatter the nerves of investors," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
The three main Wall Street indices are already in correction territory, having fallen more than 10% from their record closing highs, and are closing in on bear market territory, when a security closes 20% below a recent high.
While the Nasdaq came within a whisker of closing in bear market territory Thursday, other segments of the market, including the Russell 2000 small-cap benchmark and the Dow Jones Transportation index are already there.
Disappointing durable goods numbers could pressure the market, with core orders showing an unexpected decline.
But buyers could get a lift from Nike NKE), which soared 8.6% as it reported strong earnings thanks to strong online sales in North America.
In tech, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) and IBM (NYSE:IBM) could be active as Reuters reported that China-backed hackers breached their computer networks and attacked their clients.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 0.2%, while Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rose 0.8%.
-- Reuters contributed to this report.