On last 2016 trading day, global stocks mixed, U.S. futures edge up

A pile of currencies — (Image credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Global stock markets were mixed on Friday, the last trading day of the year, ahead of the opening bell in the U.S. European stocks edged down while some Asian markets made gains. U.S. stock futures edged higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite benchmark indexes all rising by about 0.2 percent, signaling a positive start to the day. The Dow is poised to wrap up its best year in three years. U.S. stocks edged lower on Thursday as investors traded cautiously to close out 2016.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.