Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor.
The stock market’s momentum appears to be waning, and futures suggest a mixed opening for Thursday. Earnings reports have generally been positive, with companies like Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) posting encouraging quarterly results. The strong performance of Disney’s stock could provide support to the 30-stock Dow Industrials Average. Bond yields have started to rise in anticipation of the IMF panel discussion, featuring Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. It’s worth noting that, given the current eight-session winning streak, a mild sell-off is possible.
Cues From Wednesday’s Trading:
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks had a mixed performance, driven by reactions to earnings reports and increasing expectations of the Federal Reserve unwinding its recent rate hikes. The major indices began the day higher but quickly reversed their gains, leading to a morning decline. In early afternoon trading, the indices hit their daily lows, but they managed to recover some of the losses by the end of the session.
While the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite briefly moved into positive territory during the final hour of trading, the Dow Industrials closed slightly lower. Notably, the S&P 500 has risen for eight consecutive sessions, and the Nasdaq Composite has posted gains for the ninth session in a row. Both indices are now trading at their highest levels since late September. However, the Dow’s seven-day winning streak came to an end on Wednesday.
Information technology and real estate stocks outperformed the market, while energy and utility stocks faced selling pressure.
Small-cap stocks, represented by the Russell 2000 Index, experienced notable selling pressure, remaining below the unchanged line for most of the session and closing lower.
US Index Performance On Wednesday
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | +0.08% | 13,650.41 |
| S&P 500 Index | +0.10% | 4,382.78 |
| Dow Industrials | -0.12% | 34,112.27 |
| Russell 2000 | -1.10% | 1,714.07 |
Analyst Color:
Morgan Stanley's Lisa Shalett said she is less convinced of the recent market rebound, adding that in the short term, there's still a lot of noise.
The latest bounce-back in stocks was due to the market participants returning to the narrative that the rate-hiking cycle is now over, the inflation fight is won and growth in corporate profits lies ahead, the analyst said.
Shalett said she remained wary of a potential slowing in economic growth, the specter of sticky inflation, the overall market trend remaining sideways and uninspiring, and the stresses emerging in the high-yield or speculative grade credit.
“Given today's risks and uncertainties, the Federal Reserve seems to be willing to take a wait-and-see approach, and we believe investors should do so as well,” she said.
Futures Today
Futures Performance On Thursday
| Futures | Performance (+/-) |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.10% |
| S&P 500 | +0.08% |
| Dow | +0.09% |
| R2K | -0.60% |
In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose 0.10% to $437.70 and the Invesco QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) slipped 0.06% to $372.70, 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. ET. Economists, on average, expect jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 4 to come in at 215,000 compared to 217,000 for the previous reporting week.
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic is scheduled to make a public appearance at 9:30 a.m. ET. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin will speak at 11 a.m. ET. Both Fed officials are members of the Federal Open Market Committee.
The Treasury will auction four- and eight-week bills at 11:30 a.m. ET and 30-year bonds at 1 p.m. ET.
Fed Chair Powell will participate in a panel discussion at the IMF at 2 p.m. ET.
See also: Best Futures Trading Software
Stocks In Focus:
- Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ:LI) shares rose over 3% in premarket trading following the release of the company’s third-quarter results.
- Disney rallied over 4% as investors reacted positively to its fourth-quarter earnings report and the management commentary on the call.
- Among the other stocks moving on earnings news are Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) (up over 12.5%), HubSpot, Inc. (NYSE:HUBS) (up over 7%), AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) (up about 2%), Luminar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAZR) (down about 9.5%), Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ:VSAT) (up over 7%), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) (up about 3.5%) and Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) (up over 11.5%).
- AstraZeneca plc (NASDAQ:AZN), Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX), Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI), Krispy Kreme, Inc. (NASDAQ:DNUT), Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVAX), Weibo Corp. (NASDAQ:WB) and US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) are among the notable companies reporting their quarterly results before the market open.
- Those reporting after the close include Alarm.com Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALRM), Blink Charging Co. (NASDAQ:BLNK), DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DV), Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX), Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN), Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF) (NYSE:LGF), Navitas Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:NVTS), News Corporation (NASDAQ:NWSA), Unity Software Inc. (NYSE:U), SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN), Plug Power, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLUG) and Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN).
Crude oil futures rose 0.52% to $87 in early European session on Thursday following the previous session’s 2.64% plunge.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.029 percentage points to 4.537% on Thursday.
Asian stocks closed mixed as traders took cues from Wall Street’s lackluster performance overnight and the inflation data from China, which showed a deflationary trend amid stuttering growth.
European stocks held up and were higher in late-morning trading on Thursday.
Among the other markets, cryptocurrencies are rallying across the board. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is up over 4% over the past 24 hours as it rallied to the highest since May 2022. Hopes of approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF have been generating positive sentiment towards cryptos in general.
Read Next: US Economy Primed For 2024 Rebound: Goldman Sachs Envisions S&P 500, Bond Surge As Inflation Pressure Eases
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