Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 14, 2023 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Stock futures are near flat Thursday night as investors shifted focus from the Federal Reserve policy meeting earlier in the week toward the next piece of economic data due Friday morning.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 29 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures both traded near flat.
Virgin Galactic shares surged more than 40% in extended trading after the company announced its first commercial space tourism flight is slated for the end of this month. Adobe added more than 2% after the technology company beat Wall Street estimates on top and bottom lines in its fiscal second quarter and issued upbeat expectations for current quarter and full-year performance.
The moves follow a winning session on Wall Street as investors bet interest rate hikes were coming to an end after the Federal Reserve announced it would not increase rates at its meeting this week. All three of the major indexes finished Thursday’s session more than 1% higher, marking the sixth straight day of wins for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. It’s the S&P 500’s longest winning streak since November 2021.
With just Friday’s session left, the three indexes are also on track for weekly gains, building on a recent rally across the market. Up nearly 3%, the S&P 500 is on pace to notch its best weekly performance since March. The Nasdaq Composite has gained almost 4% since the start of the week, making it poised for its eight straight winning week — the tech-heavy index’s longest weekly streak since a 10-week period that ended in March 2019.
The Dow has gained a relatively modest 1.6% this week. Gains have been restricted by a more than 5% tumble in UnitedHealth.
“Investors look for a variety of reasons to say: ‘OK, does this move have legs? Is it sustainable?,'” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “What they’re finding is yes, it is sustainable over the long haul.”
Market participants will watch Friday for consumer sentiment data due in the morning. Friday’s session will likely be busy given the quarterly rebalancing of some indexes and expiration of some options expected to take place.
This so-called quadruple witching can result in a surge of market volatility and trading volume. However, expiration week often tends to be higher during bull markets and lower in bear markets, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. That may bode well at least for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, which are posting strong weeks thus far.
Friday also marks the final trading day before a long weekend, with the market closed Monday in observation of Juneteenth.
