U.S. stocks waver narrowly ahead of Christmas holiday

U.S. stocks fluctuated between small gains and losses in the morning session Friday, as many traders are expected to be away from their desks for the Christmas holiday.

By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.18 points, or 0.04 percent, to 19,910.70. The S&P 500 edged down 0.26 point, or 0.01 percent, to 2,260.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.83 point, or 0.02 percent, to 5,448.25.

Trading volume is expected to be light as investors prepare for their Christmas celebrations this weekend. U.S. stock markets will be closed Monday for the Christmas holiday.

U.S. sales of new single-family houses in November 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, beating market consensus of 580,000, said the Department of Commerce Friday.

This is 5.2 percent above the revised October rate of 563,000 and is 16.5 percent above the November 2015 estimate of 508,000.

Meanwhile, the final reading of consumer sentiment index published by Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan came in at 89.8 for December, generally in line with market estimates.

Overseas, European markets continued to waver narrowly amid Deutsche Bank news. Shares of the bank climbed about 3 percent after the company agreed to pay 7.2 billion U.S. dollars to settle an investigation led by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In Asia, Chinese equities declined, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index going down 0.94 percent to 3,110.15 points.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks declined as investors digested an array of generally downbeat economic reports. Endit