U.S. stock futures showed a soft start Monday after markets closed for Christmas and investors assessed the impact of the omicron Covid-19 variation.

Dow Jones futures pointed to a lower open by around 10 points on Monday, while S&P and Nasdaq futures both indicated a slightly higher open.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 196.67 point, or 0.555% to 35.950.56 on Thursday. Markets were closed Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.62% to 4,725.79 and closed at a record. Below its intraday high, the 500-stock average is down 0.4%. Nasdaq Composite rose 0.85% to 15,653.37

New studies were published to boost sentiment suggesting that omicron has a lower risk of hospitalizationCompared to other Covid varieties.

U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that cases of Covid-19 are likely going to keep surging as the omicron variant rapidly spreads across the globe. 

It keeps going up every day. The last weekly average was about 150,000 and it likely will go much higher,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week.”

According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. reported 52 million cases. The dominant strain, the Omicron, is driving the increase.

On Thursday, a variety of economic data showed that the economy was stable with rising labor and spending patterns but high inflation. Core personal consumption expenditures, which is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve, rose 0.6% in November compared to November 2013. The November Core PCE rate rose by 4.7% over the previous year, which was higher than the expected 4.5%.

The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index will release its data Monday at 10:30 AM. ET.

—CNBC’s Jessica Bursztynsky and Maggie Fitzgerald contributed to this article.