Stock futures rise as Dow looks to recover from worst session since March 2023: Live updates

Stock futures were slightly higher on Friday, following the worst session in more than a year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Futures tied to the 30-stock Dow were up by 59 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.3% each.

During Thursday’s session, chipmaker Nvidia added more than 9%, propelled by strong guidance in addition to an earnings beat and a 10-for-1 stock split. Nvidia has become a key bellwether for the broader market, and it is the de facto leader of the so-called “Magnificent Seven.”

The rise in the artificial intelligence darling did not help the market, however, with more than 400 stocks in the S&P 500 closing lower. The broad market index lost 0.74%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.39%. The Dow suffered a 1.53% decline for its worst session since March 2023, weighed down by a 7.6% drop in Boeing.

“Markets tend to take breather heading into a long holiday weekend,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. “The Fed minutes provided the catalyst and not even Nvidia could refocus markets on the positives.” Indeed, at their latest meeting, central bank policymakers had expressed worries over the lack of progress in tamping down inflation.

Robust economic data on further dented investors’ hopes for rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Demand for durable goods was much higher than expected in April, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Orders for long-lasting items such as appliances, cars and airplanes was rose 0.7% for the month, slightly below the 0.8% increase in March but far better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for a 1% decline. Excluding transportation items, orders still accelerated 0.4%. However, new orders were flat excluding defense.

May services and manufacturing data also surpassed forecasts from economists,  according to purchase manager surveys from S&P Global released Thursday. Weekly jobless claims numbers on Thursday also signaled that any weakening in labor market demand may have stalled.

To that end, the S&P 500 is tracking for a weekly loss of 0.7%, while the Dow is on pace to drop about 2.4%. The Nasdaq is the outperformer, with a modest gain of 0.3%.

The Dow is set to snap a five-week winning streak and the S&P 500 to break a four-week positive streak as concern the Fed won’t cut interest rates this summer overshadowed Nvidia’s blockbuster report. After some strong economic and labor data this week, Goldman pushed its forecast for the Fed’s first rate cut back to September from July.

“Inflation is likely to be much improved by September, but hardly perfect, and still at a year-on-year rate that makes cutting a less than obvious decision,” wrote Goldman economist David Mericle.