US stock futures rose on Wednesday, keeping Wall Street up for a fourth straight day, with chipmakers expected to lead the rally.
How to trade stock index futures
-
Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures YM00 +0.32% up 119 points, or 0.3%, to 31,132
-
S&P 500 Futures ES00, +0.23% up 0.3% to 3,859
-
Nasdaq 100 Futures NQ00, +0.31%, up 0.3% to 11,919
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was up +0.23%, up 70 points or 0.23% to 31,038, the S&P 500 SPX was up +0.36%, up 14 points or 0.36% to 3,845 and the Nasdaq Composite COMP up +0.35% up 40 points or 0.35% to 11,362.
What moves the markets
Tech stocks are likely to gain ground on Thursday after South Korea’s Samsung 005930, +3.19%, the world’s leading semiconductor maker, announced a better-than-expected jump in second-quarter sales.
The news helped allay concerns about the extent of the sector’s slowdown.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is down more than 27% so far in 2022, while the S&P Semiconductor & Semiconductor Equipment Index is down 37%.
In premarket trading, chipmakers Intel INTC, +0.82% and Nvidia NVDA, +1.11% gained 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively.
Investors will be hoping that the recent jitters in stocks mean the market has an opportunity to be pleasantly surprised when second-quarter earnings season kicks off next week.
But some are cautious.
“Stocks could experience a second phase of the bear market, driven by weak earnings. The decline is unlikely to materialize until the unemployment rate nears its peak, which could be in about a year,” said Trevor Greetham, head of multi-assets at Royal London Asset Management.
“Broad diversification, active tactical asset allocation and disciplined downside risk management will be key to navigate the bumpy road,” he added.
Meanwhile, equity investors appear to have decided that the latest Federal Reserve minutes released on Wednesday are of little cause for concern.
Attention will now turn to Fed President James Bullard’s speech in St. Louis on Thursday and Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report for fresh clues on the trajectory of Fed policy. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, 2.947%, rose 4 basis points to 2.950%.
Other Markets
-
Crude oil was firmer. West Texas Intermediate Crude CL.1, +0.85% CLQ22, +0.85% was up 79 cents, or 0.8%, to $99.34 a barrel. The US benchmark has lost nearly $10 over the past two sessions on concerns over slowing global demand.
-
ICE dollar index DXY, -0.14%, fell 0.2% to 106.81. It stood at 107 on Wednesday, a 19-year high, as worries about the European economy and political upheaval in the UK put pressure on the euro and sterling.
-
Gold GC00, +0.39% up 0.2% to $1,740.50 an ounce and Silver SI00, +1.05% up 0.8% to $19.25 an ounce.
-
Bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.37% is up 0.5% to $20,505 but is still nearly 70% off its all-time high as traders keep a close eye on the recent turmoil in the crypto sector.
-
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP (+1.36%) rose 1.4%, while the FTSE 100 UKX (+1.14%) rose 1.2% in London after British media reported Prime Minister Boris’ resignation Johnson announced. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP is up +0.27% up 0.3% and the Nikkei 225 NIK is up +1.47% up 1.4%.
source
