Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor during morning trading on May 17, 2024.
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U.S. stock futures edged lower on Friday as investors scrutinized a range of corporate earnings ahead of key inflation reports. After a stellar month for stocks, Wall Street is set for a lower week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 37 points, or 0.10%. S&P 500 Index Futures and Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.20% and 0.31% respectively.
Traders digested the latest corporate earnings reports. Dell Technologies Even with first-quarter results beating expectations, the company still fell 16%. Cloud security inventory Z scaler soared by 14%, while the developer information platform MongoDB plunged 23%. clothing retailer gap surged 21%, while department store chains Nordstrom A drop of more than 6%.
Wall Street’s main benchmarks are experiencing losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down more than 300 points, or 0.9%, after Salesforce’s latest results missed revenue expectations. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq fell 1.1%.
The moves come during a holiday-shortened trading week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both on track to snap a five-week winning streak, while the Dow was headed for a second straight week of losses as rising U.S. Treasury yields weighed on investor sentiment.
Investors worry that the volatility could mean the recent stock market rally is starting to wane. They worry that gains in a handful of large technology stocks such as Nvidia are masking weakness in the broader market. The S&P 500 is up about 10% this year, but the equal-weighted index is up about 3%.
“When we see option pricing betting that this momentum will continue or actually exceed historical records, that’s a good thing,” Jeff deGraff, director of technical research at Renaissance Macro Research, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” That’s a problem for us. He cited the recent surge in semiconductor stocks such as Qualcomm and Nvidia.
“They may consolidate in the summer, but that’s not the place to invest new money,” DeGraaf added. “So, I think the expectations are pretty much over the top here and we’re just trying to be careful.”
April personal consumption expenditures data will be released on Friday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect core personal consumption expenditures to increase 2.7% annually, slightly slower than the 2.8% increase in the last data.
Stocks are coming off a strong month, with every major benchmark index on track for its sixth monthly gain in seven months. The Dow gained 0.8% this month and the S&P 500 gained 4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose about 7%, on track for its best month since November 2023, when it rose 10.70%.
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