U.S. stock index futures climbed in evening trading on Sunday, signaling a potential rebound for Wall Street following two consecutive weeks of significant losses, largely driven by a downturn in the technology sector and diminishing hopes for interest rate reductions.
Investor sentiment remained delicate as the first-quarter earnings season was poised to kick off this week, particularly with major reports expected from Wall Street’s largest tech companies throughout the week.
The recent tech sector turmoil, sparked by a drop in chipmaking stocks, led to substantial declines in Wall Street indices over the past fortnight. However, this decline also created opportunities for some bargain hunting.
As of 19:19 ET (23:19 GMT), S&P 500 Futures were up 0.3% to 5,107.75 points, Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.4% to 17,254.50 points, and Dow Jones Futures increased by 0.2% to 38,295.0 points.
Attention now turns to the imminent quarterly earnings announcements from several of Wall Street’s major tech giants, scheduled later in the week.
Four of the notable “Magnificent Seven” stocks are set to release their earnings reports this week. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is scheduled for Tuesday, followed by Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) on Wednesday, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) along with Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) on Thursday.
Tech stocks had been reeling from substantial losses over the past week, particularly following lackluster earnings reports from key chipmaking players ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML) and TSMC (NYSE:TSM), which raised concerns about the potential impact of artificial intelligence on the sector.
Notably, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) experienced significant losses, plunging 10% on Friday to nearly a two-month low. This downturn weighed on U.S. stock benchmarks, with the S&P 500 dropping 0.9% on Friday to 4,967.23 points, while the NASDAQ Composite slid 2.1% to 15,282.01 points.
Conversely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 37,986.40 points, bolstered by gains in non-tech sectors like financials, discretionaries, and industrials. American Express (NYSE:AXP) notably contributed to the Dow’s climb with strong first-quarter earnings.
Over the past week, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell by 3.5% and 6.1%, respectively, while the Dow remained relatively stable. Market Awaits PMIs and PCE Inflation Data amid Reduced Rate Cut Expectations Investors are also eagerly anticipating a series of economic readings this week for further insights into the U.S. economy, especially amid diminishing hopes for a June rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Later in the week, Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for April is expected to provide additional clues on U.S. business activity. Of greater interest will be the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index data, the Fed’s preferred inflation metric, also scheduled for release later in the week. Analysts anticipate the reading will confirm that inflation remained elevated in March.
