Stock futures inched higher Tuesday as the market attempted to buck its recent funk driven by concerns about the economy and inflation.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 88 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.3%. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%.
Tech stocks such as Tesla, Alphabet, Netflix, Nvidia and AMD were slightly higher in premarket trading. Shares of MGM Resorts rose in early morning trading after Credit Suisse upgraded the casino stock to outperform.
The market suffered losses to start the week with the blue-chip Dow shedding 250 points. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% Monday with nine of the 11 sectors registering losses, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.6%. It was the second negative session in a row for the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
“There are a lot of headwinds out there as we embark on corporate earnings, and traders will be looking for any and all indications of guidance — especially as the threat of slower growth looms large,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading at E-Trade Financial. “As new data emerges and traders gain some potential insight into growth prospects, it may be wise to prepare for more bumps in the road.”
JPMorgan Chase and other big banks are about to kick off the third-quarter earnings season later this week. Earnings growth is expected to grow about 30% year over year this quarter following a 96.3% expansion in the second quarter, according to Refinitiv.
“Expectations for third quarter earnings have been coming down in recent weeks and that should create some room for upside surprises, which is good for overall market sentiment,” said Rod von Lipsey, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management.
Investors will monitor the latest employment data on Tuesday as the Labor Department releases its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 10.9 million job openings in August, unchanged from the total in July. Stocks fell on Friday after a disappointing jobs report.
The stock market went through a bumpy ride in September, with the S&P 500 falling 4.8% for its worst month since March 2020 and breaking a seven-month winning streak. The benchmark has recovered somewhat in October, up about 1.3% for the month.
But the rebound has stalled out a bit in recent days. Wall Street major strategists are seeing muted returns for the rest of 2021 as the average year-end S&P 500 target stands at 4,433, less than 2% from Monday’s close, according to the CNBC Market Strategist Survey.
