Global markets woke up from their Christmas holiday in a muted fashion with stocks on Wall Street almost flatlining and European sharemarkets mixed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.01% in afternoon trading, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.1% in light Boxing Day trading in the run-up to the end of a strong year for equities – the S&P 500 is on up almost 27% so far this year.

Retailers are in focus as they go through their traditionally busy Christmas and New Year periods, with mixed sales data coming in around the world.

In the US, Mastercard data showed spending rose 3.4% in the period between Nov 1 and Dec 24 from a year earlier, and retailers Wallgreen Boot Alliance, Target and Dollar Tree were among the leaders on the S&P 500.

Whether that spills over to local trading in New Zealand remains to be seen with Worldline figures showing domestic spending was subdued ahead of the Christmas holiday.

The Lucky Country

Still, the likes of KMD Brands and Michael Hill International have significant Australian footprints, and Boxing Day sales are projected to be robust across the Tasman.

Australian futures are pointing to a small gain for the ASX today.

Brent crude oil unwound earlier gains, down 0.2% at US$73.01 per barrel at 7am in Auckland, having rallied on reports Chinese authorities have agreed to issue 3 trillion yuan of special treasury bonds to support Asia’s biggest economy.

Local exporters exposed to Chinese consumers such as The a2 Milk Co have waxed and waned through the year on the prospects for government support in China.

The kiwi dollar resumed the local trading session largely where it left off before Christmas, trading at 56.31 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 56.42 cents on Tuesday at 5pm, and was at 90.44 Australian cents from 90.46 cents.

Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Viktor Bystrov on Unsplash.