Stocks push forward for the seventh consecutive day after a report showed a slight rise in home prices.

Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller saw its home price index increased for a fifth straight month in October by 0.4%. But it is still down 7.3% compared with the same period last year.

Later, the Conference Board will release its December report on consumer confidence, with economists expecting a rise to 53 from 49.5 in November.

Across the markets, the Dow Jones is up 21 points to 10,568, with the Nasdaq falling 1 point to 2,290. The S&P 500 is flat.

Trading volume is expected to be low today as traditionally investors take a holiday between the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

In other markets around the world, the Nikkei hit a four-month high overnight and European markets were also modestly higher.

Morgan Stanley is poised to overhaul the way it pays its most senior executives, deferring more of their compensation over time and benchmarking their pay against rival firms, according to people familiar with the matter, says the Wall Street Journal.

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