Tech Stocks May Lead Early Rebound On Wall Street
March 18 2024 - 9:12AM
IH Market News
The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher
open on Monday, with stocks likely to regain ground after trending
lower over the past few sessions.
Technology stocks may help lead an early rebound on Wall Street,
as reflected by the 1.2 percent jump by the Nasdaq 100 futures.
Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are surging by 5.0 percent in
pre-market trading after a report from Bloomberg said Apple (AAPL)
is in talks to build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine
into the iPhone.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is also seeing significant pre-market
strength ahead of its GTC Conference, where the chipmaker is
expected to provide updates on its AI initiatives.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as
traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting
on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged,
but the central bank’s accompanying statement and economic
projections could have a significant impact on the outlook for
rates.
Recent hotter-than-expected inflation readings have reduced
optimism about the likelihood of the Fed’s first rate cut coming in
June.
With traders looking ahead to the Fed meeting, stocks moved
mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Friday. With
the downward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed lower for
the third straight day.
The major averages finished the day off their worst levels but
still firmly negative. The Nasdaq slumped 155.36 points or 1.0
percent to 15,973.17, the S&P 500 slid 33.39 points or 0.7
percent to 5,117.09 and the Dow fell 190.89 points or 0.5 percent
to 38,714.77.
For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined by 0.7 percent,
while the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1 percent and the Dow was
nearly unchanged.
The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected concerns about the
outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy
meeting.
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Labor
Department showed import prices in the U.S. increased in line with
economist estimates in the month of February.
The Labor Department said import prices rose by 0.3 percent in
February after climbing by 0.8 percent in January. The uptick
matched expectations.
Meanwhile, the report said export prices advanced by 0.8 percent
in February following an upwardly revised 0.9 percent increase in
January.
Economists had expected export prices to edge up by 0.2 percent
compared to the 0.8 percent growth originally reported for the
previous month.
The Fed also released a report showing a slight increase in U.S.
industrial production in the month of February, with manufacturing
and mining output recovering from weather-related declines in
January
The Fed said industrial production inched up by 0.1 percent in
February after falling by a downwardly revised 0.5 percent in
January.
Economists had expected industrial production to come in
unchanged compared to the 0.1 percent dip originally reported for
the previous month.
Meanwhile, preliminary data released by the University of
Michigan unexpectedly showed a slight deterioration in U.S.
consumer sentiment in the month of March.
The report said the consumer sentiment index edged down to 76.5
in March after falling to 76.9 in February. Economists had expected
the index to come in unchanged.
Year-ahead and long-run inflation expectations remained
unchanged from the previous month at 3.0 percent and 2.9 percent,
respectively.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York also released a report
showing New York manufacturing activity has contracted at a
significantly accelerated rate in the month of March.
Software stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, with the
Dow Jones U.S. Software Index plunging by 2.7 percent after ending
Thursday’s session at its best closing level in over a month.
Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) led the sector lower, plummeting by 13.7
percent after reporting better than expected fiscal first quarter
results but providing disappointing revenue guidance for the
current quarter.
Considerable weakness also emerged among computer hardware
stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss posted by the NYSE
Arca Computer Hardware Index.
Retail stocks also showed a notable move to the downside on the
day, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index down by 1.2
percent.
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