US Stocks Likely To Open Higher, Extending Post-Election Rally: Fed's Rate Decision On Investors' Radar As Expert Highlights Markets Scaling 48 All-Time Highs This Year

U.S. stocks could open in the green on Thursday after a strong post-election rally on Wednesday that saw former President Donald Trump emerge victorious after a long-drawn battle with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Futures of all three major indices edged up on Thursday, pointing to positive sentiment on Wall Street.

Shares of Trump's social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. DJT will remain in focus once again on Thursday after surging nearly 6% on Wednesday.

Futures	Performance (+/-)
Nasdaq 100	0.22%
S&P 500	0.19%
Dow Jones	0.19%
R2K	0.35%

In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY gained 0.22% to $592.42 and the Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ rose 0.26% to $506.87, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

All three major indices registered strong surges as election results poured in on Wednesday, ending the session with major gains. The wider Dow Jones index surged by over 1,500 points, closing the day with 3.6% gains.

Oil prices continued to ease as Trump's win increased expectations of a stronger U.S. dollar.

Treasury yields continued to gain after popping on Wednesday at the prospect of a Trump victory.

All eyes will be on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Thursday as investors await signals on the path for rate decisions going forward.

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with consumer discretionary, industrials, and financials stocks recording the biggest gains on Wednesday.

However, consumer staples and real estate stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session lower.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Nasdaq Composite	2.95%	18,983.47
S&P 500	2.53%	5,929.04
Dow Jones	3.57%	43,729.93
Russell 2000	5.84%	2,392.92

It's not just equities that surged—top cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD continued to gain momentum, scaling a new all-time high of $76,460.15. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $74,967.38, up by 1.48% in the last 24 hours.

Insights From Analysts:

Veteran investor Mark Mobius, chairman of Mobius Emerging Opportunities Fund, told CNBC that a Trump victory would not just be good for the U.S. economy, but also for emerging ones.

A decisive Trump victory would lead to "lots of deregulation," according to Mobius, which would also be "very good" for emerging countries.

"One of the things [I observe] as I travel around the world, is the incredible impact of U.S. regulations on these countries regarding the transfer of funds, know your customer… hopefully, that will go down the drain and there will be much freer trade and much freer movement of currencies."

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, highlighted that the U.S. equity markets have already hit new all-time highs 48 times in 2024, with nearly two months still to go.

Per Detrick's analysis, this could mean the U.S. markets could witness 56 all-time highs in 2024, which would make it the fifth most in history.

He is also bullish on the impact of a potential Fed rate cut on U.S. equities. He noted that when the Fed cut rates at a time when the S&P 500 was near an all-time high, it resulted in stocks being higher a year later.

"They’ve done this 20 other times and a year later stocks were higher 20 times. As we’ve been saying all year, the Fed is a tailwind."

Tomorrow the Fed will cut rates with the S&P 500 near an all-time high.

They've done this 20 other times and a year later stocks were higher 20 times.

As we've been saying all year, the Fed is a tailwind. pic.twitter.com/YgfF3WJ4B3

— Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) November 7, 2024

According to CME Group's FedWatch tool, markets are currently anticipating a 100% chance of a rate cut. Powell's remarks in the press conference will be worth looking out for, though, as investors look for guidance on the future trajectory of rate action.

On the economic data front, U.S. mortgage applications fell by 10.8% from the previous week in the week ended Nov. 1.

U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 2.149 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 1, compared to market estimates of a 1.8 million gain.

See Also: How To Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

While Powell and Fed will be the stars of Thursday's economic calendar, here's all the activity investors will be watching today:

• Initial jobless claims data and preliminary productivity numbers will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• Wholesale inventories data will be released at 10 a.m. ET.
• FOMC will announce its rate decision at 2 p.m. ET.
• Fed Chair Powell will address a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus:

• Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. DJT shares plunged nearly 20% in premarket trading on Thursday.
• Lyft Inc. LYFT shares popped over 22% after the company raised its outlook amid a surge in sales and ridership.
• Qualcomm Inc. QCOM beat Street expectations and extended its share buyback program. Qualcomm shares rose over 7% in premarket trading.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM shares are in focus after Baird downgraded the lender's stock from neutral to sell.
• Investors are awaiting earnings results from The Hershey Company HSY, Halliburton Company HAL, and Block, Inc. SQ today.

Commodities, Bonds And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures eased in the early New York session, falling by 0.92% as Trump's return to the White House has led to a stronger U.S. dollar.

The 10-year Treasury note yield surged to 4.433%.

Most Asian markets ended Thursday on a positive note, but Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended the day 0.25% lower. European stocks showed strength in early trading.

Read Next:

• Jim Cramer Calls Trump’s Return To White House A ‘Huge Win For The Stock Market’

Photo courtesy: Wikimedia