Stocks are poised to open Friday’s session on a positive note, as the major indices strive to break out of the consolidation phase they find themselves in. Although recent inflation data has come in benign, Federal Reserve officials have stuck to the rhetoric that more rate hikes may be necessary.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said in remarks prepared for delivery at the European Central Bank in Germany on Friday that “should inflation remain high and the labor market remains tight, additional monetary policy tightening will likely be appropriate to attain a sufficiently restrictive stance of monetary policy to lower inflation over time.”
Cues From Thursday’s Trading:
Some stock-specific moves served as drags in Wednesday’s session resulting in a mixed close on Wall Street on Thursday. Regional banking stocks took a hit after PacWest Bancorp PACW disclosed further erosion in deposits.
Walt Disney Co. DIS fell sharply in reaction to its earnings, weighing down on the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 Index.
The Dow and the broader S&P 500 gauge languished below the unchanged line throughout Friday’s session. After a lackluster session, which saw the Nasdaq Composite flitting in and out of the flat line, the tech-heavy index closed modestly higher.
While communication services stocks launched into the rally, energy, material, real estate and utility stocks came under selling pressure.
U.S. Indices’ Performance Wednesday
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:
Following a second inflation reading that confirmed the slowdown in pricing pressure, Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, said the Fed now has the room it needs to take a pause at the next meeting.
The challenges in the banking sector are just the first sign of stress that has been inflicted on the system by the Fed’s rapid and aggressive rate hikes, the analyst said.
Zaccarelli sees a recession on the horizon. “We do think investors are being too sanguine about the recession risk on the horizon, but given that we are in the calm before the storm, it is easy to see why so many people are buying stocks as everything looks clear for the moment,” he said.
Futures Today:
Futures Performance on Friday
Futures | Performance (+/-) |
Nasdaq 100 | -0.44% |
S&P 500 | -0.39% |
Dow | -0.39% |
R2K | -0.63% |
In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY gained 0.44% to $413.96 and the Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ rose 0.22% at $326.92, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Upcoming Economic Data:
The economic calendar of the day is fairly light with only a handful of readings on tap. The Labor Department is scheduled to release the export and import prices report for April at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Import and export prices may have increased by 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, compared to the previous month. This would mark a reversal from the 0.6% and 0.3% declines seen in March.
The University of Michigan is due to release its preliminary consumer sentiment index for May at 10 a.m. EDT. Economists, on average, expect a small slip back in the headline index from 63.5 in April to 63 in May. Traders may also stay tuned to the one-year and five-year inflation expectations for the month.
See also: Futures Trading: Best Futures To Trade
Stocks In Focus:
Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures rose 0.40% to $71.15 on Friday after closing 2.33% lower on Thursday. The yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury note was up 0.015 percentage points at 3.412%.
Most major Asian markets ended on a mixed note as growth worries continue to weigh down, while European stocks were on a firmer footing by late morning trading amid the release of the U.K. first-quarter GDP report. The preliminary reading showed the U.K. economy expanding by a meager 0.1% quarter-over-quarter, in line with expectations.
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