Stock futures were largely flat Wednesday morning after the nation’s two biggest box chains, Walmart and Home Depot, lifted the Dow and S&P 500, setting the stage for higher retail earnings this week.
Futures linked to the Dow Jones industrial average were up 32 points, or 0.09%, with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.06% and falling 0.03%, respectively.
In regular trading, the Dow ended the day up 239 points, or 0.7%, and the S&P added 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.
Retailers led the market largely thanks to strong quarterly results from both Walmart and Home Depot, which were the biggest gains in the 30-stock Dow.
The Dow posted a fifth straight day of gains. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up for a fifth straight week as investors continue to gauge how much strength the rally has. The broader market index is up 18% from June’s low.
“This market is very resilient,” Brian Talkington, managing partner of Requisite Capital Management, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “As we approach revenue, returns will average 7%.”
Giving her “a big break” in this market would mean the Federal Reserve and its programs continue to raise rates and reduce the size of its balance sheet. “Incomes are still strong, but … the central bank’s balance sheet hasn’t changed,” he said.
Gabriela Santos, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management, agreed that investors should be wary of more volatility down the road.
“Real yields will increase further in the fall, which will again pressure growth stocks,” he said. “[With] The macro story has caught up recently and led to some more broad-based gains in the market – it’s too early to have any kind of confidence that we’ll really know the shape of the recession or inflation next year. We’ll see how the central bank reacts to that inflation.”
