Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 15, 2025 in New York City.
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S&P 500 futures rose Thursday after the 500-stock benchmark posted its best day since November, on the back of a tame inflation report and blowout bank results. Traders are also looking ahead to more big bank earnings.
S&P 500 futures were 0.3% higher, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.5%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 34 points, or about 0.1%.
On Wednesday, the 30-stock Dow surged more than 700 points, or 1.65%, while the S&P 500 rallied 1.83%. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed, advancing 2.45%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained about 2%. A moderate improvement in core inflation in December’s consumer price index and strong earnings from big banks spurred a risk-on rally.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield pulled back sharply from a 14-month high reached earlier in the week. It last hovered around 4.65%.
“The bond market was starting to price in the risk of further hikes, and so you get this slightly softer-than-expected inflation data, which allows you to have this big relief rally, mostly in the interest rate sensitive parts of the market,” Cameron Dawson, NewEdge Wealth’s chief investment officer, said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”
“Doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily out of the woods for things like small caps, in the volatility that they’ve been experiencing,” she added. “But the sigh of relief is welcome.”
Wall Street will glean more insight into the state of the economy Thursday. The December retail sales report is expected to show a 0.5% increase, down from a 0.7% rise the previous month, according to a Dow Jones consensus estimate. Weekly jobless claims are also due.
Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are set to report earnings Thursday, wrapping up reports from the big banks.
Elsewhere, Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, will sit down before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance Thursday morning, a hearing investors will parse for clues into tariffs and other policies from the incoming administration.
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