Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 6, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
U.S. stock futures hovered near the flatline on Sunday night following a record-setting week for the S&P 500.
Futures tied to the 500-stock benchmark were flat. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures and Nasdaq 100 futures also traded within 0.1% of their previous close.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.57% to close above the 5,000 level for the first time, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.25%. On the other hand, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 54.46 points, or 0.14%.
All three major indexes are coming off their fifth straight week of gains. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 1.4% and 2.3%, respectively. The Dow edged fractionally higher.
Some 61 names in the S&P 500 are set to report earnings in the week ahead, including gig economy stocks Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash. Companies such as AutoNation, Kraft Heinz, Hasbro and Coca-Cola will also shed light on the state of the U.S. consumer.
“Most earnings are going to be strong because the economy was strong,” said Infrastructure Capital Advisors’ Jay Hatfield, who noted that he’s bullish on the slate of earnings reports.
Traders will also watch out for the latest level on the consumer price index — or CPI, a key inflationary gauge — set to be released on Tuesday morning. More key economic data is expected on Thursday and Friday, including January’s reading on retail sales, production, imports and exports, housing starts and the producer price index, or PPI.
“CPI and PPI should print in line, but still be bullish,” Hatfield said to CNBC. “We think that the market will continue to rally for the next week or two, and then maybe stall out as we wait for this inflation data to continue to come out.”
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