Stocks ended higher on Friday as markets clawed back most of the losses suffered during Monday's brutal tumble.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 51 points, or 0.1%, to finish the session at 39,497.54, while the S&P 500 gained 0.47% to end at 5,344.16 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.5% to end the day at 16,745.30.
Week to date, the S&P 500 was 0.04% lower, CNBC reported, and the Dow and tech-heavy Nasdaq were down on the week by 0.6% and 0.18%, respectively.
On Monday, The Dow nosedived tumbled 1,000 points and the S&P 500 lost 3% for its worst day since 2022.
Updated at 12:47 PM EDT
That Friday feeling
Stocks are treading water heading into the final hours of an exhausting week, with Treasury yields trading calmly and investors seemingly content to head into next week's session, and its retail and inflation focus, with a clean slate.
Markets will navigate July CPI data Wednesday, a key reading of retail sales the following day and June quarter updates from Home Depot HD and Walmart WMT, all of which will offer stern tests to Wall Street's recent concern that the economy is slipping into recession.
The S&P 500 was last marked 5 points higher, or 0.1%, with the Dow up 10 points. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, gave back 12 points from last night's close.
Related: Wall Street banks ring recession alarm
Updated at 11:10 AM EDT
Cisco job cuts
Cisco Systems (CSCO) share turned lower in late-morning trading following reports that the tech equipment maker is set to unveil its second major round of job cuts this year.
Reuters reported that Cisco, which reports June quarter earnings next week, could cut as many or more than the 4,000 people it laid off in February.
Cisco shares were last marked 0.73% lower on the session at $45.51 each.
$CSCO
— Hammerstone Markets (@HammerstoneMar3) August 9, 2024
-Cisco to lay off thousands of employees in second job cut this year - sources tell @Reuters
-cut announcement could come as early as Wednesday
-may be slightly higher than the 4K jobs cut in Feb.
-shares move to morning lows, -0.83%#highlight
Updated at 10:48 AM EDT
Have AI will travel
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares have been an active tech name in early trading, following on from a price target upgrade at Citigroup and a potentially lucrative partnership with tech giant Microsoft MSFT.
Palantir, one of the few stocks that wasn't caught in the week-long downdraft of tech names, was last marked 0.32% lower on the session at $27.74 each.
Related: Analyst revamps Palantir stock price target on earnings, Microsoft deal
Updated at 9:35 AM EDT
Soft open
The S&P 500 was marked 7 points lower, or 0.14%, in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq falling around 5 points, or 0.03%.
The Dow, meanwhile, slipped 140 points and the small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.05%.
S&P 500 Opening Bell Heatmap (Aug. 09, 2024)$SPY -0.16%🟥$QQQ -0.21%🟥$DJI -0.20%🟥$IWM -0.06%🟥 pic.twitter.com/SNoBc0jTav
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) August 9, 2024
Updated at 8:49 AM EDT
Red vol
Stock futures are sliding back into the red, although trading volumes remain thin, as market volatility levels remain elevated into the final session of the week.
Traders are pricing in daily swings of around 1.5%, or 80 points, for the S&P 500 over the next 30 days. That's a notable decline from VIX levels earlier in the week, but still indicates market volatility that is more than double the level it was just one month ago.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 now suggest a 13 point opening bell decline, with the Nasdaq called 80 points lower and the Dow set for a 60 point pullback.
my $VIX $SPX model fired the signal yesterday after the spike (yes, very big spike)... pic.twitter.com/Ylv1Y811SX
— David Cox, CMT, CFA (@DavidCoxRJ) August 9, 2024
Updated at 8:20 AM EDT
About that cut ...
Rate traders are paring bets on a larger 50 basis point rate cut from the Fed when the central bank meets next month in Washington, following comments from Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin last Thursday.
Barkin, a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting committee, told a virtual event held by the National Association for Business Economics that he needed to see "more on the labor side (and) more on the inflation side" before committing to a rate cut.
"Jobs are being added. I think that's a clear fact. People aren't getting laid off," he said. "That's a clear fact. And there's a lot more people in the workforce."
"I think you've got some time in a healthy economy to figure out whether this is an economy that's gently moving into a normalizing state that will allow you to, in a steady deliberate way, normalize rates or (is it) one where you really do have to lean into it,." Barkin said.
Stock Market Today
The S&P 500, the broadest measure of blue-chip U.S. shares, suffered its biggest single-day decline in more than two years at the start of the week but ended Thursday with its strongest advance since December as the unwinding of yen carry trades tore through global markets.
A better-than-expected reading for weekly jobless claims, which soothed concerns about a near-term recession tied to labor-market weakness, supported yesterday's rally, as did a near 10% surge for Eli Lilly (LLY) after its Street-beating second quarter report.
Stocks are set to add to their recent run, potentially putting the S&P 500 back to the levels it closed at last Friday following a softer July payrolls report.
The CBOE Group's VIX index, the market's benchmark volatility gauge, eased to $23.25 in overnight trading but remains at firmly elevated levels following its historic spike past the $60 mark earlier this week.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were holding steady at 3.959% heading into the start of the New York trading session, with 2-year notes pegged at 4.034%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.01% lower at 103.195.
Related: Wall Street banks ring recession alarm
Global oil prices, which have added to gains for much of the week amid rising geopolitical and military tensions in the Middle East, were holding steady as well, with WTI crude pegged at $76.25 per barrel.
Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, the S&P 500, which is down 2.6% for the quarter, was priced for an opening bell gain of around 12 points while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was called 50 points higher.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, which is down 0.63% from last Friday's close, is priced for a 60 point opening bell gain.
In Europe, the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark was also close to round-tripping its weekly declines, with an early gain of 0.84% in Frankfurt, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.47% in London.
More Wall Street analysts:
- Analysts reboot Amazon stock price targets after earnings
- Analyst reboots Rivian stock price target on updated plans
- Analysts reboot Arm Holdings stock price target following earnings
Overnight in Asia, a firmer reading for consumer price inflation in China eased deflation concerns. That helped domestic stocks to solid Friday gains and lifting the regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark to a 1.71% advance heading into the close of trading.
Japan's Nikkei 225, meanwhile, closed 0.84% higher in Tokyo, pegging the benchmark's weekly decline at just 0.63% following Monday's 12.4% collapse, the largest since 1987.
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks
