U.S. stock futures are little changed Monday night after the major averages closed higher to start the second half of 2024, as tech stocks outperformed.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 9 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.01% and 0.02%, respectively.
Wall Street is coming off a positive session for the benchmarks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.83% to close at a record, while the S&P 500 rose 0.27%. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 50.66 points, or 0.13%.
Investors are deliberating whether the strong start to the year can continue in the back half of 2024. While megacap tech stocks continue to outperform, bearish market observers worry poor breadth could signal choppiness ahead.
For now, however, the performance of underlying stocks in the major indexes remain at a healthy level, according to Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab.
“I think that’s actually probably the key for the second half of the year,” Gordon said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Monday. “If you can keep above two-thirds of members in the S&P and the Nasdaq that are above their 200-day moving average, I think that would still be a relatively healthy setup as we go through the softer patch of economic data, as you get through a little bit more clarity for where the Fed is going, and what the actual timing of rate cuts looks like.”
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET before a policy panel at the European Central Bank Forum. The central bank leader will be part of a panel discussion and will not be issuing prepared remarks beforehand. He will join ECB President Christine Lagarde and Roberto Campos Neto, governor of Brazil’s central bank. CNBC’s Sara Eisen will moderate.
The May job openings and labor turnover report is also due out Tuesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate the number of job openings last month to be 7.9 million, down from 8.1 million in April.
Markets will end trading early Wednesday, and close Thursday, for the Fourth of July holiday. On Friday, investors will get insight into the labor market with the June jobs report.
