Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets on Friday as futures trading recently resumed after a “cooling issue” at a data center halted trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange earlier in the morning.
The trading disruption at the CME along with an early close on Wall Street may lead to below average trading activity going into the weekend.
A lack of major U.S. economic data may also keep some traders on the sidelines ahead of next week’s reports on manufacturing and service sector activity and private sector employment.
Nonetheless, stocks may continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which contributed to a four-day winning streak for the markets ahead of yesterday’s holiday.
The markets have recently benefitted from renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates following dovish comments from some Federal Reserve officials.
CME Group’s FedWatch Tool indicates the chances the Fed will lower rates by another quarter point next month have soared to 86.9 percent.
Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Wednesday, extending the upward trend seen over the past few sessions. The major averages moved to the upside in morning trading and remained firmly positive throughout the afternoon.
The major averages closed higher for the fourth consecutive session, continuing to claw their way back towards their record highs. The Dow climbed 314.67 points or 0.7 percent to 47,427.12, the Nasdaq jumped 189.10 points or 0.8 percent to 23,214.69 and the S&P 500 advanced 46.73 points or 0.7 percent to 6,812.61.
Stocks continued to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has helped the major averages rebound strongly from the significant pullback seen earlier in the month.
Traders seem to have shrugged off the valuation concerns that recently weighed on the markets and dragged the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 down to their lowest levels in over two months.
The markets also continued to benefit from renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.
According to the FedWatch Tool, the chances of a rate cut are little changed from Tuesday despite the release of some upbeat U.S. economic data.
The Commerce Department released a long-delayed reported this morning showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods increased by more than expected in the month of September.
The report said durable goods orders climbed by 0.5 percent in September after spiking by an upwardly revised 3.0 percent in August.
Economists had expected durable goods orders to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 2.9 percent surge that had been reported for the previous month.
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected dip by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended November 22nd.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 216,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 222,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 225,000 from the 220,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected dip, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting a matching number in the week ended April 12th.
Gold stocks moved sharply higher amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 4.9 percent to its best closing level in well over a month.
Substantial strength was also visible among airline stocks, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3.2 percent to a one-month closing high.
Computer hardware and semiconductor stocks also saw significant strength on the day, contributing to the continued advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Brokerage, steel and natural gas stocks also showed strong moves to the upside, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.