Futures rise ahead of Wall St's first trading session in 2025

At 05:23 a.m. ET on Thursday, Dow E-minis were up 198 points, or 0.46%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 34 points, or 0.57%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 160.25 points, or 0.75%. The main catalysts were the Fed easing interest rates for the first time in four years, investor hype around artificial intelligence and expectations of companies potentially benefiting from President-elect Donald Trump's policies. However, 2024's surge ended with the benchmark index and the Dow posting monthly declines in December as markets priced in Trump's proposals on corporate tax cuts, loose regulations, stricter immigration laws and tariffs to be inflationary and likely to slow down the pace of the Fed's monetary policy easing this year.