Trader on the floor of the NYSE, Oct. 25, 2022.
Source: NYSE
Stock futures rose Monday, with investors looking to build on the S&P 500‘s fresh all-time high from Friday.
Futures tied to the benchmark S&P 500 added 0.4%, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.8%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 74 points, or 0.2%.
Stocks roared back to life on Friday after losing ground earlier in the week. The S&P 500 broke both its intraday and closing record from January 2022, ending the day at 4,839.81. Friday’s gain officially signaled that Wall Street is indeed in a bull market that started in October 2022.
The blue-chip Dow and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also closed higher, with all three major indexes now in the green so far in 2024. Tech stood out among S&P 500 sectors on Friday, gaining 2.35% on the day and 4% on the week.
Wall Street’s strength will seemingly depend on whether the U.S. central bank will capture a soft landing, which in when the economy can be cooled without being tipped into a recession. Investors are hoping for a series of benchmark interest rate cuts beginning in March, although they are less sure the initial cut will come to fruition.
Investors are now pricing in a roughly 47% chance of a Fed rate cut in March, according to Friday data from the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool. That marks a steep decrease from 81% a week earlier.
Investors will be closely watching a slate of economic reports due out this week, including gross domestic product data on Thursday and the personal consumption expenditures prices on Friday. Both reports could provide insight into how central bank policymakers view monetary policy moving forward.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the report date for gross domestic product data. The Commerce Department will release its initial gross domestic product estimate on Thursday.
Read the full article here