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Stock futures were little changed on Thursday night after a record-setting session, with two of the three major benchmarks on pace for their third consecutive weekly advance.
S&P 500 futures traded just above the flatline along with Nasdaq-100 futures. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose just 3 points.
The S&P 500 on Thursday hit an intraday all-time high of 7,816.70. The benchmark also closed at a record.
The tech and communication services sectors were among the big winners in the index, rising roughly 1% each.
“The market is appropriately bullish right now,” Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at Partners Group, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” in an interview, noting the strength in corporate earnings.
With more than 90% of S&P 500 companies having posted second-quarter results, earnings growth from the year-earlier period is tracking around 50%, according to FactSet.
Amoroso also noted that software has “rallied and rebounded … I think the market came to the realization that maybe we did not appropriately price in those risks.” Indeed, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) is up around 28% over the past six months after tumbling more than 24% in the first quarter. IGV climbed more than 3% on Thursday.
Thursday’s gain put the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite on pace for their third straight weekly advances. Heading into Friday’s session, the former is up 0.5%, while the latter has advanced 0.4%. The Dow, meanwhile, is down 0.4% week to date.
There are no major earnings due Friday, but investors will have a look at July retail sales figures at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists on average expect sales grew by 0.1% month over month, according to Dow Jones.
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Number of bullish individual investors decline in latest AAII weekly survey
The percentage of mom-and-pop investors who are bullish about the outlook for stocks over the next six months narrowed to 34.7% from 37.0% in the latest weekly survey by the American Association of Individual Investors, below the historical average of 37.5%.
Bearish investors were little changed at 37.9% this week vs. 38.0% last week, still far above the long-term historical average of 31.5%.
Those investors who count themselves as neutral about the outlook for stocks widened to 27.4% from 25.0% last week, below the historic average of 31.0%.
The survey is regarded as a contrarian indicator, with extreme bullish readings signaling that investors may have mostly finished buying and have little cash left in reserve, and extreme bearish readings interpreted as meaning most selling is done and there’s plenty of cash available to put to work in stocks.
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Market factoids heading into Friday’s session
The Dow had its first positive day in four on Thursday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted back-to-back daily gains for the first time since Aug. 4. The S&P 500 also had its best day since Aug. 4.
Seven of the 11 S&P sectors gained during the day, with communication services leading, up 1.6%. Materials lagged, losing 0.7%.
Week to date, the Dow is lower, on track for its first negative week in three. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are higher, on track for their third straight positive week. This would be the first three-week win streak for the S&P 500 since May 29 and for the Nasdaq since May 8.
So far this week, eight of the 11 S&P sectors are higher, with energy outperforming, up 5.9%. Consumer discretionary is lagging week to date, down 1.6%.
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38 Min Ago
Stock futures are little changed at the open
S&P 500 futures traded just above the flatline along with Nasdaq-100 futures. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose just 25 points.
— Fred Imbert
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