Global Courant
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City on June 14, 2023.
Spencer Plat | Getty Images
Stock futures are nearly flat Thursday evening as investors shifted focus from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting earlier this week to the next piece of economic data expected Friday morning.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 29 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures both traded near flat.
Virgo Galactic Shares rose more than 40% in extended trading after the company announced its first commercial space tourism flight is scheduled for the end of this month. Adobe added more than 2% after the tech company beat Wall Street’s top- and bottom-line estimates in its fiscal second quarter and expressed optimistic expectations for current-quarter and full-year performance.
The moves follow a winning session on Wall Street, as investors bet that rate hikes would come to an end after the Federal Reserve announced at its meeting this week that it would not raise rates. All three major indices ended Thursday’s session more than 1% higher, marking the sixth consecutive day of wins for the S&P 500 And Nasdaq composite. It is the S&P 500’s longest winning streak since November 2021.
With only Friday’s session left, the three indices are also on track for weekly gains, building on a recent rally across the market. Up nearly 3%, the S&P 500 is on track to post its best weekly performance since March. The Nasdaq Composite is up nearly 4% since the start of the week, poised for its eight straight winning weeks — the tech-heavy index’s longest weekly streak since a 10-week period ending March 2019.
The Dow has gained a relatively modest 1.6% this week. Profits are limited by more than 5% drop UnitedHealth.
“Investors are looking for a variety of reasons to say, ‘Okay, does this move have legs? Is it sustainable?'” said Sam Stovall, chief strategist at CFRA Research. “What they’re finding is yes, it’s sustainable in the long run.”
Market participants will look Friday for consumer confidence data expected tomorrow morning. Friday’s session is likely to be busy given the quarterly rebalancing of some indices and the expiration of some options that are expected to take place.
This so-called quadruple witchcraft can result in a surge in market volatility and trading volume. However, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac, the expiry week is often higher during bull markets and lower during bear markets. That certainly bodes well for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, which have posted strong weeks so far.
Friday also marks the last trading day before a long weekend, with the market closed on Monday for Juneteenth observation.
