Futures point to a slightly positive start by Wall Street stocks on Thursday following the WMT) earnings, and housing and regional manufacturing data.
Cues From Wednesday’s Trading:
Stocks opened Wednesday’s session higher, and after a lackluster move in early trading, they launched into a rally that lasted through late-afternoon trading. The major indices then went about a consolidation move before closing notably higher for the session.
Hopes of a silver lining with respect to the debt limit impasse encouraged traders to buy stocks, shedding the inhibition seen in recent sessions. A rally in the financial space on the back of positive tidings from Western Alliance Bancorp (NYSE:WAL) also supported sentiment.
The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 Index settled at their highest level since late Aug. 2022 and the Dow Industrials rose to a week’s high.
Most sectors, with the exception of the defensive consumer staple and utility stocks, advanced strongly. Consumer discretionary, energy and financial stocks found particular strength.
U.S. Indices’ Performance Monday
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite Index | +0.18% | 12,256.92 |
| S&P 500 Index | +0.05% | 4,136.12 |
| Dow Industrials | -0.17% | 33,618.69 |
Analyst Color:
A Morgan Stanley analyst calls for extended volatility in the market. Morgan Stanley’s Lisa Shalett said this week, historically the market continues to fall after the first rate cut, extending the bear market and hitting a new low. The average decline has been 23% after the final rate hike in a monetary policy cycle, she added.
“Investors should take caution and consider portfolio rebalancing and dollar-cost-averaging,” Shalett said. She suggests looking for income opportunities in both stocks and bonds. Portfolio diversification across asset classes and regions remains key, she added.
Futures Today
Futures Performance On Thursday
| Futures | Performance (+/-) |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.44% |
| S&P 500 | -0.39% |
| Dow | -0.39% |
| R2K | -0.63% |
QQQ) declined 0.24% at $331.93, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Upcoming Economic Data:
The Labor Department is scheduled to release the weekly jobless claims report at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists, on average, expect the number of individuals who claim for unemployment benefits to fall from 264,000 in the week ended May 6 to 254,000 in the week ended May, 13.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve is due to release the results of its regional manufacturing survey for May at 8:30 a.m. EDT. After the disappointing manufacturing reading from the New York region, traders would be keen to know if the weakness is prevalent across the regions.
The diffusion index of business activity based on the Philadelphia Fed’s survey is expected to fall from -1.5 in April to -11.3 in May.
Fed Governor Philip Jefferson is due to speak at 9:05 a.m. EDT. Michael Barr, vice president of supervision of the board of governors of the Fed, will testify before Congress on the U.S. banking system at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan will speak at 10 a.m. EDT.
The National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release the existing home sales report for April at 10 a.m. EDT. The consensus estimate calls for a decline in sales of existing homes from 4.44 million units in March to 4.30 million units in April.
The Conference Board is due to release its report on leading indicators for April at 10 a.m. EDT. Economists expect the index to have fallen at a slower pace of 0.6% month-over-month in April compared to a 1.2% drop in March.
The Treasury will auction 4- and 8-week bills at 11:30 a.m. EDT and 10-year TIPS at 1 p.m. EDT.
See also: Futures Trading: Best Futures To Trade
Stocks In Focus:
- Take-Two Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) rose over 10% in premarket trading after the videogame software company reported its fiscal year fourth-quarter results.
- Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) fell over 3.60% amid concerns over falling orders after the networking reported its quarterly results.
- Palantir Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) rose close to 1% after Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest picked up a chunk of shares in the data intelligence software company.
- Alibaba Group Holding Limited. (NYSE:PLCE) are among the companies reporting quarterly results ahead of the market opening.
- Notable companies reporting after the close include Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTNX).
Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures reversed course Thursday, dropping 0.48% to $72.48 a barrel, after their 2.78%+ rally on Wednesday.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.008 percentage points to 3.589%.
Most Asian markets advanced on Thursday, taking cues from the upbeat close by their Wall Street counterpart overnight. The Indian and Indonesian markets bucked the uptrend with modest losses.
European stocks rallied out of the gates on Thursday and traded solidly higher in late-morning trading.
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This illustration was generated using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.
