The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to move to the upside as trading resumes following the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday.
The markets may continue to benefit from the upward momentum seen last week, which lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 back within striking distance of their record highs.
The S&P 500 ended last Thursday’s trading just shy of the record closing high set in January before edging slightly lower on Friday.
Last week’s gains came after President Donald Trump signed a memorandum calling on members of his administration to review plans for reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners but stopped short of imposing the tariffs.
Following the rally seen during Thursday’s session, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Friday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day mixed.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 81.13 points or 0.4 percent to 20,026.77, the S&P 500 edged down 0.44 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,114.64 and the narrower Dow fell 165.35 points or 0.4 percent to 44,546.08.
Despite the mixed performance on the day, stocks posted strong gains for the week. The Nasdaq surged by 2.6 percent, the S&P 500 jumped by 1.5 percent and the Dow advanced by 0.6 percent.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Thursday’s rally, which saw the S&P 500 jump near its record highs despite data showing a bigger than expected increase by producer prices.
Traders were also digesting a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales slumped by much more than expected in January.
The report said retail sales slid by 0.9 percent in January after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in December.
Economists had expected retail sales to edge down by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
However, economists noted the sharp decline was largely due to extreme wintery conditions and the California wildfires.
A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed industrial production rose by more than expected in January, although the increase was largely due to a weather-related surge by utilities output.
The Fed said industrial production climbed by 0.5 percent in January after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.0 percent in December.
Economists had expected industrial production to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.9 percent advance originally reported for the previous month.
“Retail sales will likely recover in coming months as Californians pick up the pieces and as winter weather affects the Midwest and East Coast less,” said Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank.
“Similarly, the industrial production report was choppy in January with obvious weather effects boosting utilities demand and weighing on mining and manufacturing,” he added. “These short-term fluctuations will fade quickly.”
While most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, computer hardware stocks extended Thursday’s rally, driving the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index up by 2.9 percent to a record closing high.
Significant strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply lower along with the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 4.2 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
Pharmaceutical stocks also showed a notable move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index down by 1.7 percent.
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