US stock index futures were little changed during Tuesday’s overnight trading after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs during regular trading.
Futures contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 38 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were slightly lower.
The S&P 500 rose 0.15% on Tuesday for its fourth consecutive positive session, hitting both record intraday and closing highs. It is the 62nd intraday record high for the reference index this year. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.52% and also hit intraday and closing records.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.09% despite the 30-share benchmark failing to hit a new milestone, with Home Depot acting as the biggest drag.
The S&P may have set a record, but Christopher Harvey, director of equity strategy at Wells Fargo Securities, sees more gains in sight. He raised his year-end target to 4,825 on Tuesday, 7.5% above the index’s daily close. Harvey’s appeal is based on the strength of the S&P in August that carried over into the last few months of the year.
“In the past 31 years there have been nine cases in which the S&P 500 achieved a price return of more than 10% in the first eight months of the year; in the next four months the index averaged a further + 8.4% instances in the last four months achieved a negative return, “he wrote in a statement to his clients.
The much-anticipated Jackson Hole symposium begins Thursday, when central bankers may release updates on their plan to reduce monetary stimulus. The Federal Reserve has bought at least $ 120 billion in bonds a month to contain longer-term interest rates and stimulate economic growth as the pandemic ravages the economy.
Chairman Jerome Powell is due to comment on Friday.
“Taper talk is the concern, but if inflation continues to heat up and economic data continues to be mixed, the timing for the tapering could be postponed,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “The Fed is unlikely to force an economic slowdown that isn’t ready yet and the outlook is becoming more uncertain with the rise of the Delta variant.”
Bell added that the deciding factor could be the August job report, as Covid cases skyrocketed over the past month with the spread of the Delta variant.
Several tech companies will report their results on Wednesday after the market closes, including the Dow component Salesforce. Box and Snowflake are also on deck.
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