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Briefing.com Summary:

*Higher start in sight after overnight strength in global equities.

*AI-theme receives a boost from Baidu's chip unit IPO.

*Quiet week of data wrapping up.

The stock market finished 2025 on a weak note, but it appears to have regained some strength as the calendar turned with futures on the S&P 500 trading 0.5% above fair value this morning.

The signs of an upbeat start follow an overnight session that featured some more market closures in Japan and China while other indices have had a generally positive showing. South Korea's Kospi (+2.3%) opened the year with a rally to a fresh record.

AI-related names have been at the forefront of today's strength in international markets, drawing support from news that Baidu's chip unit filed for an IPO in Hong Kong. The news should be encouraging to investors who are worried that overall AI investment could be on the verge of stalling or turning.

The technology sector was last year's second-best performing group with a 23.3% gain and it is likely to see some early strength today.

The early part of this week saw a volatile finish to the year in precious metals prices with silver futures bouncing inside a $13/ozt range. It has rebounded off this week's low this morning, trading up $2.97, or 4.2%, at $73.58/ozt while gold holds a slimmer gain.

This week featured only a handful of economic reports, which will also be the case today. The market will receive the final December reading of the S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI (flash 51.8; November 52.2) at 9:45 ET. The latest Construction Spending report (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%; prior 0.2%) was scheduled for a 10:00 ET release, but it is unclear if the Census Bureau will release that report today since there are still some ongoing post-shutdown delays to economic reporting.

Treasuries have started the day on a subdued note, pressuring the 2-yr yield by a basis point to 3.47% while the 10-yr yield is little changed at 4.16%.