Stock futures were slightly higher Thursday evening as investors prepared to end a difficult September.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 53 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.09%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.
During Thursday’s regular trading, stocks closed slightly higher. The S&P 500 added 0.59%, while the Dow ticked up by 0.35%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.83%. The gains came as the 10-year Treasury yield backed off from a fresh 15-year high.
However, the day’s action did little to mitigate equities’ sharp losses for the month and the quarter.
The S&P 500 is set to finish the month down 4.6% and the quarter lower by 3.4%. The Nasdaq Composite is off nearly 6% in September, and down 4.3% for the quarter. This month will be the worst in 2023 for both indexes. The Dow is on track for a 3% decline this month and a 2.2% fall for the quarter.
The major averages are also on pace for modest losses on the week: The S&P 500 is off about 0.5%, while the Dow is down 0.9%. The Nasdaq is off 0.1%.
Investors are now turning their attention to the latest personal consumption expenditures price index reading due Friday. The PCE reading is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric. Economists expect that the core PCE advanced 3.9% year over year in August and gained 0.2% on a monthly basis, according to Dow Jones.
Personal income and consumer spending data are also due.
“The consumer is much weaker than initially thought as economic momentum slows,” LPL Financial’s chief economist Jeffrey Roach wrote in a Thursday note.
“Investors should expect further slowing in the final quarter of 2023 and businesses would do well to prepare for a period when the consumer will retrench and become a bit more cautious on spending,” he said.
Stocks are headed for their second negative month in a row—for the first time since last year
Stocks are on a losing streak. Each of the three indexes are on pace to notch their second negative monthly performance in a row for the first time since September 2022.
Here’s how they are performing this month:
The tech-heavy Nasdaq
is down 5.9% so far in September, and is on pace for its worst monthly performance since Dec. 2022 when it fell 8.73%.
The S&P 500
is trading lower by 4.6% this month, and is on pace for its worst monthly performance since Dec. 2022, when it dropped 5.9%.
The Dow
is down about 3% this month, and is on pace for its worst monthly performance since May, when it fell roughly 3.5%.
Beware the economic and stock outlook, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo says
Inflationary pressures will likely be higher in the future than has been true in the past 20 years, meaning that “higher real interest rates are necessary in such an environment to keep inflation at target,” according to Ben Inker and John Pease of Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo in Boston in a quarterly shareholder letter.
The problem for stocks is, “higher real interest rates put pressure on both expensive and leveraged assets,” the authors said. “Investors should prepare for a recession not by owning less risk, but by owning risk where they are well-compensated for it.”
One problem area Inker and Pease highlighted is the increased interest burden on corporate borrowers, as shown by public financials of Business Development Corporations. “Ares Capital Corporation (ARES) – the largest listed BDC – has seen its portfolio’s interest increase from below 30% of EBITDA in Q2 of 2021 to over 60% in Q2 of 2023.The yields available from lending to that portfolio might be exciting, but that excitement seems a bit too large considering the concentrated bet that defaults are not around the corner.”
Stocks making the biggest moves after hours
Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading:
Vail Resorts
— The ski resort chain’s shares slid 1.8% following a disappointing quarterly report. Vail Resorts posted a loss of $3.35 per share on $270 million in revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter. Analysts surveyed by LSEG anticipated $3.24 lost per share and $283 million in revenue. The company also said its North American summer operations performed worse than expected.
Nike
— Shares of the athletic retailer rose 1.8% after it posted an earnings beat in the first quarter. Nike reported 94 cents earnings per share, while analysts polled by LSEG had forecast 75 cents per share. Meanwhile, revenue fell below estimates. Revenue came in at $12.94 billion in the first quarter, compared to Wall Street’s estimates of $12.98 billion, according to LSEG.
Blackberry
— The cybersecurity company’s shares added 1.5% in after-hours trading Thursday after Blackberry posted a loss of 4 cents per share, while analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a loss of 7 cents per share for the second quarter. The company’s revenue of $132 million fell short of analysts’ anticipated revenue of $134.3 million, according to FactSet. – CNBC
