A trader wears a t-shirt with Reddit’s logo, at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 21, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
U.S. stock futures inched higher Friday as traders looked to build on this week’s record-setting run.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 40 points, or 0.06%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both climbed 0.1%.
FedEx shares rose 13% in the premarket after the shipping company posted adjusted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates in its latest quarter. Lululemon slid 11% after the athleisure retailer posted weak guidance on the back of slowing growth in North America.
For the second day in a row, all three major stock indexes closed at record levels on Thursday. The major averages also hit all-time intraday highs. The Dow gained about 0.7%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added roughly 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. Thursday was the fourth straight winning session for the three indexes.
One reason for this market optimism might stem from the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee’s expectation for three rate cuts this year even after a couple of hot inflation reports, according to Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.
Investors have “always been more aggressive on rate hikes and more aggressive on rate cuts than the fed funds futures markets, but the Fed has delivered through the dot plot and we finally lined up,” he said.
“You get a couple of inflation data points that are a touch hotter, and I think realistically the Street’s thought process has become much more rational and lines up well with where the Fed is right now,” Hogan added.
The three major averages are tracking for healthy gains this week, with the S&P 500 tracking for a 2.4% pop and the Nasdaq rising nearly 2.7%. The Dow is the outperformer of the three, up almost 2.8% through Thursday’s close and on pace for its best week since December.