Stocks Hold Close to Week's Best Amid Holiday-Thinned conditions

The S&P E-Minis outlook remains bullish and the latest climb reinforces this theme. Furthermore, recent consolidation in the daily chart appears to be a flag formation - a bullish continuation pattern. A bullish EUROSTOXX 50 futures outlook remains intact and the contract traded higher Thursday. This maintains the recovery that started in early October and marks an extension of the bullish price sequence of higher highs and higher lows.

• Japan's NIKKEI closed lower by 100.06 pts or -0.35% at 28283.03 and the TOPIX ended 0.8 pts lower or -0.04% at 2018.
• In China the SHANGHAI COMP closed higher by 12.383 pts or +0.4% at 3101.693 and the HANG SENG ended 87.32 pts lower or -0.49% at 17573.58.
• Across Europe, Germany's DAX trades lower by 16.5 pts or -0.11% at 14523.13, FTSE 100 higher by 14.61 pts or +0.2% at 7481.01, CAC 40 down 7.18 pts or -0.11% at 6700.39 and Euro Stoxx 50 down 3 pts or -0.08% at 3959.29.
• Dow Jones mini up 35 pts or +0.1% at 34248, S&P 500 mini up 7 pts or +0.17% at 4040, aup 21 pts or +0.18% at 11882.75.