Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
Stock futures rose in overnight trading Wednesday as investors weighed the latest corporate earnings reports, including strong results from Meta Platforms.
S&P 500 futures gained 0.5%, while Nasdaq-100 futures jumped nearly 0.9%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 65 points, or 0.1%.
In extended trading, Meta Platforms rallied 7% on stronger-than-expected second-quarter results and upbeat guidance. Arm Holdings shed 10% after offering an underwhelming current-quarter guide.
Stocks are coming off a winning session that saw the S&P 500 rally 1.58% for its best day since February. The Nasdaq Composite surged 2.64%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 99.46 points, or 0.24%.
Those gains came as Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank could cut at its next meeting if the data continues supporting the narrative that inflation is easing. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady.
“If that test is met, a reduction in our policy rate could be on the table as soon as the next meeting in September,” Powell said.
As of Wednesday evening, fed funds futures trading indicated an 88% likelihood that the central bank cuts rates by 25 basis points at its September meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
“Ultimately, the market is counting on the rate-cutting cycle beginning in September — despite how many times Powell tried to keep the Fed’s options open — and the rally in stocks this afternoon began to pick up steam the more that Fed Chair tried to put the horse back in the barn throughout the press conference,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance.
Megacap technology and semiconductor stocks bounced on Wednesday. Nvidia surged nearly 13% on the heels of a strong quarter from Advanced Micro Devices. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) popped nearly 8% to secure its best session in more than a year. Amazon and Meta rose more than 2% each, while Apple added more than 1%.
Despite Wednesday’s rally in technology shares, the Nasdaq finished July with a 0.8% loss. The S&P 500 added 1.1%. The Dow was the outperformer of the three major averages with a 4.4% gain and its best month since December. The Russell 2000, a beneficiary of investors’ rotation into small cap stocks, advanced 10% in July.
The busy earnings week continues Thursday with key reports from Apple and Amazon after the bell. Intel, Booking Holdings and Moderna are also on deck.
On the economic front, investors await jobless claims data, construction spending for June and ISM Manufacturing data for July. The main event for the remainder of the week will be Friday’s keynote July jobs report.