Stock Futures Rise After Durable Goods, Spending Data

After the release of some decent government data, the market appeared to be embracing the cheer on the last trading day before the Christmas holiday. Durable goods orders rose 3.8% in November, the largest increase since July, and personal spending and consumer spending both rose 0.1%. Personal spending had risen 0.4% in October.

European stocks were mostly trading higher, with the FTSE 100 up about 1%.

Dow futures rose 53 points to 12,156; S&P 500 futures rose 7.1 points to 1,256.2.

Banks were trading higher, with Bank of America (BAC) up 1.5% in pre-market trading.