Stock futures were little changed Wednesday after the Nasdaq Composite rose to a fresh record.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched lower by 152 points, or 0.39%. S&P 500 futures ticked down 0.41%, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.39%.
American Airlines slid more than 6% in after-hours trading after slashing its sales outlook for the second quarter. JetBlue and Southwest Airlines slid about 2% each in sympathy. Retail brokerage Robinhood added about 3% after announcing a $1 billion share repurchase program.
On Tuesday, the Nasdaq Composite popped 0.6% to a record high and closed above the 17,000 threshold for the first time, fueled by a nearly 7% jump in Nvidia. The tech-heavy index was an outlier, however, as the S&P 500 edged higher by just 0.02%, and the 30-stock Dow slid nearly 0.6%, dragged lower by a decline in Merck shares.
Still, the major averages are on track to close the month with impressive gains, partly propped up by enthusiasm about a better-than-expected quarterly earnings season. The S&P 500 is up 5.4% this month, while the Dow has advanced 2.7%. The Nasdaq is outperforming by a wide margin, up 8.7% in May.
The gains arrive even as traders have lowered their expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. Indeed, fed funds futures trading data suggests a nearly 54% chance that rates will hold steady in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
“The number of expected cuts has shrunk, but it’s really shrunk for the right reasons. The economy’s been good. Inflation is progressing,” Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said Tuesday evening on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “The reality is that 3%, or even 2.7% inflation is really good for corporate profits. I think the earnings outlook actually is far better than most expected … you can see why there’s upside for stocks.”
Investors are looking to the personal income and expenditures report for April, which includes the PCE inflation reading, out Friday.
