Stocks are aiming for new record highs in a rather low-activity day. The Dow climbed 0.53%, the S&P 500 rose 0.32%, while Nasdaq jumped 0.31%.

Energy and materials are leading the broader market, even though commodities are not seeing much movement. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) leads materials, currently up 7% today and 101% year-to-date.

Communication Services is underperforming today.  Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG) are in red, down more than 1%, respectively.

Crude Inventory

Oil prices have been in rollercoaster mode the last 12 hours following reports from the Energy Information Agency (EIA), and American Petroleum Institute (API). U.S. oil inventories, as measured by the Energy Information Agency (EIA), declined by 6.065 million in the week ending on December 25, echoing the 4.87 million drops measured by the American Petroleum Institute (API). WTI oil is trading at $48.20, pulling back from $48.64.

Pending Home Sales

Pending home declined for a third straight month to 16.4% but was still a record high for November. Contract signings increased double-digits within all four regions.