U.S. stocks have reverted to a cautious stance following the S&P 500’s record close on Thursday. Despite the cautious sentiment, upward momentum seems to persist, with bond yields continuing to decline ahead of the monthly non-farm payrolls report. A stronger-than-expected report could argue against a pause, potentially sparking a negative market reaction.
Technology stocks, particularly chipmakers like Marvell Technology, Inc. MRVL and Broadcom Inc. AVGO, are poised to move in sympathy as both companies retreat in response to their earnings.
Cues From Previous Session:
In Thursday’s session, as the market priced in a potential Fed funds rate cut, upward momentum gained traction. Fed Chair Jerome Powell maintained his stance during his testimony on Thursday, contributing to the downward movement in bond yields.
The major averages opened higher and remained above the unchanged line throughout the session, ultimately closing notably higher. While the S&P 500 Index reached a new high, the Nasdaq Composite hit a fresh intraday high before retracing some gains to end slightly below its record high of 16,274.94 set last Friday.
Except for financial and real estate stocks, all sectors closed firmly in the green. Communication services and IT stocks led the charge, with material stocks also seeing significant buying activity.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | +1.51% | 16,273.38 |
| S&P 500 Index | +1.03% | 5,157.36 |
| Dow Industrials | +0.34% | 38,791.35 |
| Russell 2000 | +0.81% | 2,084.74 |
Analyst Color:
History paints a positive picture for the market in an election year. LPL Financial Chief Technical Strategist, Adam Turnquist said after Super Tuesday that the market attention now shifts to the election night, with a bit more clarity.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, seasonal strength for stocks also tends to pick up after Super Tuesday,” he said. He noted that since 1952, election-year lows have been set during the first quarter 72% of the time, with March having the highest frequency. On average, the S&P 500 has generated an average return of 7.3%, excluding dividends, during election years since 1952, he said. Taking only the positive years, the average return is a steeper 12.2%, he added.
Futures Today
Futures Performance On Friday ( as of 6:20 a.m. ET)
| Futures | Performance (+/-) |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.20% |
| S&P 500 | -0.05% |
| Dow | -0.21% |
| R2K | -0.01% |
In premarket trading on Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was flat at $514.83 and the Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ climbed 0.16% to $444.75, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Upcoming Economic Data:
New York Fed President John Williams is scheduled to speak at 7 a.m. ET.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is due to release the monthly non-farm payrolls report at 8:30 a.m. ET. The report is expected to show that non-farm payrolls rose by 198,000 in February, notably lower than the 353,000 jobs added in January. The jobless rate may have remained unchanged at 3.7%. The annual change in the average hourly wages – an inflation measure, may have edged down from 4.5% to 4.4%.
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Stocks In Focus:
- BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. BBAI fell over 16.75% in premarket trading in reaction to the company’s quarterly results.
- Other stocks moving on earnings are Broadcom Inc. AVGO (down about 2.50%), DocuSign, Inc. DOCU (up over 9.50%), Costco Wholesale Corporation COST (down over 4.50%), Gap, Inc. GPS (up over 6.50%), Samsara Inc. IOT (up over 16%), Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. SWBI (up about 8%), Marvell Technology, Inc. MRVL (down over 5.50%) and MongoDB, Inc. MDB (down over 7.50%).
Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures fell 0.44% to $78.58 in early European session on Friday after the commodity slipped 0.25% on Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.019 percentage points to 4.073%.
Wall Street’s rally overnight spread cheer in Asia, as the major markets in the region advanced on Friday. The optimism is premised on Fed rate cut hopes. European stocks were holding up on Friday amid uneasiness over the rally in the previous three sessions. The Euro STOXX Index was up 0.21%, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is slipping.
Gold was higher yet again as it raced to another record high on Friday. The U.S. dollar was weaker against most major currency pairs except the euro, with the European Central Bank’s weak growth forecast issued Thursday weighing down on the currency shared by 20 euro area nations. Cryptocurrencies are firmer, with Bitcoin BTC/USD trading just above the $67.6K level.
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