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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the opening bell on Nov. 13, 2024.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
Stock futures were slightly higher on Monday morning as Wall Street awaits a major earnings week and monitors a seemingly fizzled out postelection rally.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 13 points, or less than 0.1%. S&P futures added 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.59%.
Sunday's move follows a tough week for the three major benchmarks, which are now off their highs that were seen in the aftermath of President-elect Donald Trump's victory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week lower at 43,444.99 points, after earlier surging past 44,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 also slipped last week to end at 5,870.62, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped to end at 18.680.12 last week.
Concerns about the path of interest rates continue to weigh on investors' minds, particularly after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the central bank is not "in a hurry" to cut rates given the economy's strong growth and a solid labor market — which drove last week's selloff. Most investors are now pricing in a year-end overnight lending rate in the range of 4.25% to 4.50%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The next major catalyst for the market this week will be Nvidia earnings, which are set to be released on Wednesday. Traders will be watching for guidance about the company's demand for its Blackwell AI chips.
Earnings from Palo Alto Networks and several major retailers, including Walmart, Target and Ross, are also on deck this week. So far, with 93% of S&P 500 companies reporting results, three-quarters of them have reported a positive EPS surprise and 61% have reported a positive revenue surprise, according to a Friday note from FactSet's John Butters.
Bank of America raises its 2025 price target to 6,000, says market is 'statistically expensive'
Bank of America updated its year-end S&P 500 target to 6,000.
"Overall, we see limited near-term upside to the cap-weighted S&P 500 and prefer the equal-weighted index, but our bear market signposts – the triggers that typically precede an S&P 500 peak – are not signaling elevated risks of an imminent bear market," analyst Savita Subramanian said in a Friday note to clients, adding that the broad-market index is still "statistically expensive on almost every metric."
Still, Subramanian said that the S&P 500 is higher quality, less levered and more asset-light compared to prior decades, suggesting that Wall Street's forecasts on its return based on its current premium are "likely too punitive."
With long-term growth expectations on megacap tech at a record high, the firm sees potential for a market rotation into cyclicals and high dividend yielding stocks, particularly as it said a Donald Trump administration supports an increase in U.S. GDP growth and potentially in inflation.
The S&P 500 ended last week down 1.3% at 5,870.62 points.
— Pia Singh
English (US)