Wall Street hovers near record levels and will close early

Wall Street was largely unchanged early Wednesday as markets hovered near record levels before the opening bell on a holiday-shortened trading day.

Futures for the S&P 500, which closed at another record high a day earlier, were flat, as were futures for the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Dynavax Technologies soared 38% after Sanofi said it was acquiring the California-based vaccine maker in a deal worth $2.2 billion. The French drugmaker will add Dynavax's hepatitis B vaccines to its portfolio, as well as a shingles vaccine that is still in development. Sanofi shares were unchanged in the premarket.

U.S. markets will close at 1 p.m. eastern for Christmas Eve and remain closed for Christmas before returning to a full-day schedule on Friday.

Stock exchanges including those in London, Paris, Hong Kong and Australia have closed early or will be closing early on Christmas Eve. Germany’s markets were closed for the day.

On Wednesday, the Labor Department will release its weekly data on applications for jobless benefits, which stands as a proxy for U.S. layoffs.

Investors are betting the Fed will hold steady on interest rates at its January meeting. Recent reports show high inflation and shaky confidence among consumersworried about high prices. The labor market has been slowing and retail sales have weakened.

In Europe at midday, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.2%, while the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.1%.

In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.1% to 50,344.10 and South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.2% to 4,108.62.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 25,818.93. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.5% higher, to 3,940.95.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 0.4% to 8,762.70. Taiwan's Taiex picked up 0.2% while the Sensex in India fell 0.1%.

Gold and silver extended their rally after hitting record highs this week driven by heightened geopolitical tensions. The price of gold rose early Wednesday to $4,518.20 per ounce, adding to gains of about 70% for the year. Silver rose 1.7%.

In other trading early Wednesday, the dollar continued to fall against the Japanese yen, after officials said they could intervene with excessive moves in the yen. The dollar was trading at 156.04 yen, down from 156.17 yen.

The euro dipped to $1.1787 from $1.1796.

Oil prices edged higher as traders kept an eye on risks of supply disruptions in Venezuela and Russia.

U.S. benchmark crude oil added 13 cents to $58.51 per barrel. Brent crude gained 6 cents to $61.93 per barrel.