Stock Market Today: Dow futures dip as Middle East concerns linger and jobs data eyed
How are stock-index futures trading:
S&P 500 futures are down 0.4%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are falling 0.4%.
Nasdaq 100 futures are slipping 0.6%.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 40 points, or 0.09%, to 42,197, the S&P 500 increased 1 point, or 0.01%, to 5,710, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 15 points, or 0.08%, to 17,925.
Futures indicate a lower start for stocks at Wall Street’s opening bell, with investors cautious as Middle East tensions remain elevated.
Traders are also wary about taking bold bets ahead of a batch of U.S. economic data in the next few days, notably Thursday’s release of the weekly initial jobless claims, and the nonfarm payrolls report, due Friday.
Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat, implied that wariness about febrile October markets may also be a factor damping risk appetite.
“October volatility is no surprise, this month has historically been 34% more volatile than the average of the remaining 11 months of the year,” said Newton.
He added that he was unsure whether stocks had bottomed after Tuesday’s 0.9% retreat.” I suspect that until SPX [the S&P 500] can reclaim 5730, SPX might still prove vulnerable to a bit more selling into tomorrow [Thursday] and/or Friday before bottoming.”