Stock Futures Little Changed in Quieter Session Ahead of Christmas Break

New York (Dec 23)  Stock futures were little changed on Friday morning as Wall Street grew quieter ahead of the long Christmas break weekend.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.04%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.04%, and Nasdaq futures declined 0.08%.

Dow 20,000, which looked all but a certainty earlier in the week, has grown more remote since Wednesday. At one point, the Dow moved within 15 points of the 20,000 milestone but hasn't been able to muster the momentum to move past the threshold. The blue-chip index ended Thursday's session off by 0.12% and is now around 80 points from 20,000.

Dow 20,000 has been on watch since the index hit the 19,000 mark for the first time just a month ago on Nov. 22. The Dow first hit 10,000 in March 1999.

Credit Suisse (CS) fell in premarket trading Friday after agreeing to a $5.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations of mis-selling mortgage bonds into the global financial crisis. Credit Suisse will pay a civil penalty of $2.48 billion and provide customer relief for a further $2.8 billion, paid out over five years, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Deutsche Bank  (DB)  added 1% before the bell after reaching a separate agreement with the DOJ. The bank agreed to a $7.2 billion settlement with the DOJ to settle civil claims in connection with the bank's mortgage bond activities in the run-up to the global financial crisis. Deutsche will pay $3.1 billion penalties and provide $4.1 billion in customer relief, well below the expected $14 billion penalty first made public by the DOJ earlier this year.

Source: TheStreet