The stock market has been posting record highs on the back of the of strong earnings results. Approximately half of the S&P 500 companies have published quarterly results, and more than 80% of them exceeded Wall Street analysts’ earnings projections. The general consensus is that S&P 500 firms are likely to increase their profits by 38.6% year on year
What Did The ECB Say?
On Thursday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde attempted to downplay the likelihood of a rate rise in 2022, implying that market participants may be getting ahead of themselves in their forecasts. Despite continued inflationary pressures, the eurozone’s central bank opted to maintain interest rates and its monetary policy stance.
Numerous market players predict the ECB is overlooking current inflationary pressures and will have to declare a rate rise before the beginning of 2023. Indeed, money markets have factored in the possibility of a 20-basis-point increase in December 2022.
What Happened with Facebook?
Facebook announced on Thursday that it has changed its name to Meta. The rebranding was unveiled during Facebook Connect, an augmented and virtual reality conference. With the metaverse, a famous sci-fi word, Facebook, now known as Meta, has embraced its vision for working and playing in a virtual environment, the new name underlines the company’s rising ambitions beyond social media.
Asian Markets
The Asian stock market traded mostly higher on the final trading day of the week. The Nikkei index advanced 0.03%. The Shanghai index increased by 0.24%, while the HSI index decreased by 0.22%. The ASX index dropped by 0.44%.
Dow Jones and S&P 500: Market Breadth
The Dow Jones’ market breadth gained momentum yesterday. 68% of the Dow Jones stocks traded above their 200-day moving average.
The S&P 500 stock breadth also revealed strengthened yesterday. 70% of the shares traded above their 200-day moving average.
Dow Jones Futures Today
The Dow Jones futures are trading higher today. In terms of economic data, investors will be looking at the Core PCE Price Index m/m, which is due at 13:30 Pm BST. In addition to this, we also have the US personal Income and Spending data. The expectations are that we will see the reading for Personal Income coming at -0.2% and Personal Spending at 0.6%. As for the Core PCE Price Index m/m, traders are hoping to see the data printing the number 0.2% while the previous reading came in at 0.3%.
The Dow Jones futures have started to lose some momentum after posting a new record high this week. For the last past two days, we have seen bulls hesitating to challenge the all-time high, while the 100-day SMA continues to trade above 50-day SMA on the daily time frame which doesn’t really show a sign of strength for the bulls.
In addition to this, the RSI is still trading near the overbought area of 70 which means traders are unlikely to place some buy bets as the price is overbought and prone to some correction.
The near-term support is at 35,191, while the resistance is at 35,711.
Stock Market Rally
The S&P 500 stock index closed higher yesterday; the index increased by 0.98%. The industrial services sector led the index lower and 11 out of 11 sectors closed higher yesterday.
The Dow index also soared yesterday; the Dow stocks moved the index higher by 0.68%. 5 shares declined, while 24 shares closed higher.
The NASDAQ composite, a tech-savvy index, closed higher by 1.39% yesterday.
S&P 500 Leaders and Laggards: Teradyne Inc and Northrop
Teradyne Inc stock contributed the biggest gain, soaring 11.32%. Northrop stock was the largest drag; it fell by 7.60%. The S&P 500 stock index is up 13.74% so far this year.
Dow Jones Leaders and Laggards: Merck and Visa
Merck and Co provided the biggest help for the Dow Jones; it advanced by 6.14%, while Visa was the largest decliner, it fell by 2.75%.