U.S. stock index futures moved higher on Friday after retail-sales data came in stronger than expected, while Citigroup surpassed expectations for its second-quarter earnings.
How are stock-index futures trading?
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+1.39%
rose 197 points, or 0.6%, to 30,803. -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
+1.19%
gained 18 points, or 0.5%, to 3811. -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
+1.02%
increased 34 points, or 0.3%, to 11832.
On Thursday stocks ended down, but off session lows. The S&P 500
SPX,
shed 0.3% to close at 3,790.38, its fifth day in the red and longest losing streak in a month. The Dow industrials
DJIA,
fell 142.62 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 30,630.17, clawing back a loss of 600 points earlier. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
rose less than 0.1% to 11,251.19.
What’s driving markets?
Stocks climbed after U.S. retail sales rose by 1% in June — a slightly stronger number than economists had expected. Although some of the increase was tied to higher prices of gasoline and food, markets celebrated the fact that — for now, at least — the all-important consumer hasn’t succumbed to the surge in prices.
Citigroup Inc. shares rallied after the company report second-quarter profits that were more robust than analysts had anticipated, even though income had fallen compared to the same quarter last year. However, Wells Fargo & Co. shares slumped after its profits and revenue missed expectations.
U.S. industrial production data will be released at 9:15 a.m. Eastern, followed by the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index and 5-year inflation expectations at 10 a.m. Eastern. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has shown keen interest in the latter.
Stocks pulled back from deeper losses on Thursday after Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard both voiced support for 75 basis point interest rate hikes. That’s as markets have sold off over concerns that a 100 basis point hike was likely at the July 26-27 Fed meeting, following this week’s data that showed the strongest jump in consumer prices in four decades.
Retail sales could be key for stock market direction, say some. “Higher retail sales will put the 1.0% hike front and center again, and I would expect we will see another rerun of the early Wall Street price action of yesterday, i.e., sell everything, buy dollars,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a note to clients.
Elsewhere, oil prices
CL.1,
were modestly higher and the dollar
DXY,
was steady, while copper
HG00,
and other industrial metals came under pressure.
In other economic news, China reported the economy grew just 0.4% annually in the second quarter, as Beijing’s stringent COVID-19 lockdowns have taken a toll on economic activity. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected a rise of 0.9%. The economy contracted 2.6% in the April to June period from the prior quarter, marking the first quarterly contraction since the first quarter of 2020.
