ADBE - US Stock Futures Show Resilience As Traders Anticipate Relief From Upcoming Fed Meeting: Analyst Highlights 2 Key Investment Themes For The Year | Benzinga
The market mood appears to have improved after Thursday’s inflation-induced sell-off, with stock futures rising modestly early Friday. Earnings news has been largely negative, potentially acting as a pushback. Bond yields are slipping as traders continue to harbor hopes that the Federal Reserve, led by Jerome Powell, would lean toward a dovish stance and signal rate cuts at the upcoming meetings.
Traders may also sift through a few key economic reports due for the day with an eye on the upcoming week’s Fed meeting.
Cues From Previous Session:
The much hotter-than-expected February producer price inflation report spooked traders on Thursday, with small-caps bearing the brunt of the selling. The weakness in the small-cap space could be explained by the fact that they are very sensitive to interest rates, given that the bulk of their financing would be in the form of bank loans.
The major averages opened higher but returned their gains immediately after and spent the rest of the session below the unchanged line. On a positive note, the key indices snapped back some of their losses in late trading before closing off the session’s lows.
The tech-Nasdaq Composite and the broader S&P 500 Index ended lower for a second straight session, pulling further away from their all-time highs.
Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed lower, with only energy and communication services stocks bucking the downtrend. Real-estate, financial, and utility stocks were among the worst decliners.
Index Performance (+/-) Value
Nasdaq Composite -0.30% 16,128.53
S&P 500 Index -0.29% 5,150.48
Dow Industrials -0.35% 38,905.66
Russell 2000 -1.96% 2,031.18
Analyst Color:
Following Thursday’s “disastrous” PPI report, fund manager Louis Navellier said the Fed will ...