Dow Futures Rise, S&P Avoids Bear Market — and What Else Is Happening in the Stock Market Today
Commuters exit from the Wall Street subway station in New York.
Amir Hamja/Bloomberg
Stock futures were signaling a higher start for Wall Street on Monday after the S&P 500 rallied on Friday to avoid closing in a bear market.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 144 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 futures were rising 0.4% and Nasdaq futures rose 0.3%.
The S&P 500 closed Friday at 3,901, up 0.01%. It had swung to as low as 3,810 during the session. The S&P 500 has to close below 3,837 — 20% below its peak in January — for it to officially be in a bear market. The index fell 3% last week and has declined for seven straight weeks. The Dow slumped 2.9% last week, extending its weekly losing streak to eight, and the Nasdaq dropped 3.8%.
Giving a lift to futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq on Monday was a report that said Broadcom (ticker: AVGO) was in advanced talks to acquire VMware (VMW). The Wall Street Journal said the technology companies were discussing a cash-and-stock deal that could come soon. If the deal is completed it would be one of the year’s biggest. VMWare has a market capitalization of about $40 billion.
VMware shares rose 18.3% to $113.20 in premarket trading Monday. Broadcom fell 2.3%.
Comments from President Joe Biden that he was considering reducing tariffs on China also was lifting market sentiment. The tariffs were imposed by the Trump administration.
Investors this week will be monitoring the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting to gauge the central bank’s next move on interest rates. It has been pushing rates higher in an effort to cool historically high inflation. Some economists have expressed concerns the Fed could move too aggressively and push the U.S. into a recession.
Biden said Monday following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that it wasn’t inevitable that the U.S. economy will enter a recession.
Also expected this week are data on first-quarter gross domestic product, durable goods orders and the personal consumption expenditures for April, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.
Here are other stocks on the move Monday:
Zoom Video (ZM) edged higher ahead of the company’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report, scheduled for after the closing bell Monday. Shares of the videoconferencing company have lost all their Covid-era gains, with the stock declining around 50% so far this year, and more than 70% over the last 12 months.
Chinese electric-vehicle maker XPeng (XPEV) is expected by analysts to report a first-quarter loss of about 30 cents a share on sales of about $1.1 billion. XPeng reports before markets opens Monday. The stock fell 2.8% in premarket trading.
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]
