U.S. stock futures rose in early trading Thursday ahead of the final trading day of the holiday-shortened week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 46 points, or 0.2%, at 30,080.
Futures for the S&P 500 advanced 5.75 points, or 0.2%, at 3,687.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite took on 11.5 points, or 0.1%, to 12,709.75. The tech-heavy index is on track to end the week higher, after hitting an intraday high in the previous session.
With just five trading days left in the year, the NASDAQ is on pace to be the clear winner, currently up around 42%. The Dow has picked up 5.6%, and S&P 500 is up 14.2%.
The market will close early at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, and will be closed on Friday in observance of Christmas. Trading is expected to be thin on Christmas Eve.
The Dow and the S&P 500 have registered small losses this week so far amid profit-taking action into the year-end. Policy uncertainty also damped investor spirits in the holiday week.
President Donald Trump slammed Congress' $900-billion COVID relief package an unsuitable "disgrace." The president took particular issue with the direct payments, which he said should be lifted from $600 to $2,000.
Investors also closely monitored the progress on the vaccine rollout. The CDC said just over one million shots had been administered as of Wednesday, roughly 19 million doses shy of earlier projections from public health officials for December.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.5% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index moved ahead 0.2%.
Oil prices slipped 45 cents to $47.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved higher $1.90 at $1,880 U.S.