U.S. stock futures were largely flat at the close of a holiday-shortened week, just before trading was suspended on Friday by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) following a data center malfunction.
The CME outage has brought a halt to live trading in futures and options across multiple asset classes—including bonds, equities, and commodities. The disruption has not only affected S&P 500 contracts but also impacted trading in U.S. Treasurys and crude oil futures for several hours.
Prior to the trading freeze, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 0.15%, or 69.40 points, to 47,510.70 points, while S&P 500 futures edged up 0.14%, or 9.50 points, to 6,822.40 points. Nasdaq 100 also advanced by 0.22%, or 54.90 points, to 25,291.80 points.
Once trading resumes, U.S. indices will be facing the reality of a down month. Megacap technology giants have led the declines for November as the market reassessed how swiftly AI-driven companies can convert headline excitement into consistent earnings.
By Wednesday’s close, both the Dow and S&P 500 were modestly down for the month, threatening to snap a six-month win streak. The Nasdaq, off 2% so far, is on track to break a seven-month rally.
Earlier in the week, equities staged a rebound as traders increased bets that the Federal Reserve could begin cutting interest rates as early as December. Optimism around artificial intelligence also helped lift technology shares in the lead-up to Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday pause.
As the month draws to a close, strategists have started outlining forecasts for 2026, with Deutsche Bank setting a bullish S&P 500 target of 8,000—an outlier at the upper range of projections. HSBC and JPMorgan analysts expect the benchmark to be closer to 7,500 by then.
Market activity will end early on Friday at 1 P.M. ET, with no major corporate results or economic reports scheduled for release.
