Wall Street points to a higher open on the last trading day of 2016

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images. U.S. government debt yields fell on Wednesday, as investors turn their attention to fresh economic data as the year draws to a close. · CNBC

Alexandra Gibbs

Updated Fri, Dec 30, 2016, 3:17 AM

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Friday, with data and oil set to be on the agenda as traders look ahead to the start of 2017.

Hoping to end 2016 on a high note, all major U.S. indexes pointed to a slightly higher open early on Friday, however hopes of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) topping 20,000 before the year ends remains slim, after it closed lower on Thursday, at 19,819.78.

On the last trading day of the year, Friday will see the release of the latest Chicago PMI data, due out at 9.45 a.m. ET. No bond auctions are set to take place by the U.S. Treasury.

On the oil front, crude futures posted slight gains on Friday, as investors wait patiently for the OPEC, non-OPEC supply deal to kick in, due to start January 1, 2017.

WTI was posting gains, trading around $54.00 at 5.15 a.m. ET, while Brent was at $57.10 per barrel. According to Reuters, oil prices are on track for their greatest annual percentage gain since 2009.

Amid another light year-end trading season, European stocks kicked off its final trading day of 2016 by trading lower on Friday morning.

Meanwhile Asia-Pacific indexes closed mixed to slightly higher overnight. Stateside, U.S. indexes ended their previous session lower.

No earnings are expected to be released on Friday.

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