U.S. Stocks May Edge Higher As Trading Resumes Following Holiday Weekend

With traders returning to their desks following the long Memorial Day weekend, stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Tuesday. After leading the markets higher last Friday, technology stoc...

RTT Staff Writer•Tuesday, May 28, 2024•2 min read

With traders returning to their desks following the long Memorial Day weekend, stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Tuesday.

After leading the markets higher last Friday, technology stocks may see further upside, with the Nasdaq 100 futures up by 0.3 percent.

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) are surging by 3.0 percent in pre-market trading, as the AI darling seems poised to continue to benefit from last week’s upbeat earnings news.

Nvidia reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance while also announcing a ten-for-one stock split and increasing its quarterly cash dividend by 150 percent to $0.10 per share.

The S&P 500 futures are also inching up by 0.1 percent, although the Dow futures are edging down by 0.1 percent. The blue chip index may continue to underperform after pulling back sharply last week.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the release of key inflation data later this week.

On Friday, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of April, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.

The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed’s next monetary policy meeting on June 11-12.

In an interview with CNBC this morning, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he needs to see “many more months of positive inflation data” before he would consider cutting interest rates.

Kashkari, who does not have a vote on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, also said he could not rule out raising interest rates if inflation fails to slow.

Shortly after the start of trading, the Conference Board is scheduled to release its report on consumer confidence in the month of May. The consumer confidence index is expected to fall to 95.3 in May after slumping to 97.0 in April.

Following the downturn seen over the course of last Thursday’s session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the rebound, surging to a new record closing high.

The Nasdaq jumped 184.76 points or 1.1 percent to 16,920.94 and the S&P 500 climbed 36.88 points or 0.7 percent to 5,304.72, while the narrower Dow ended the day roughly flat, inching up just 4.33 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 39,069.59.

While the Nasdaq shot up by 1.4 percent for the week, the S&P 500 was nearly unchanged and the Dow tumbled by 2.3 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved modestly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.5 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has slid by 0.7 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are surging $1.32 to $79.04 a barrel after climbing $0.85 to $77.72 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after edging down $2.70 to $2,334.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are advancing $19.70 to $2,354.20 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 156.67 yen versus the 156.86 yen it fetched on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0874 compared to yesterday’s $1.0858.