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U.S. stock futures dip after Dow Jones close at a record high

By Nagasunder in Business News, posted August 18, 2021

After the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes closed at historical highs in regular trading, Monday, US stock market index futures fell slightly in late trading.

The futures contract related to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 24 points. S&P 500 index futures and Nasdaq 100 index futures fell slightly.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes rose for Monday's fifth consecutive trading day, rising 0.31% and 0.26%, respectively. Everyone made up for the initial loss, and both the intraday and closing prices hit record highs. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.2% to close in red.

The movement of the S&P 500 during Monday’s trading hours was particularly striking, as the benchmark index has now doubled from the pandemic closing low on March 23, 2020. According to CNBC's calculations, this is the fastest doubling of the bull market since World War II.

The Census Bureau will release closely-watched retail sales data, which Street expects to slow down in July as the delta variable spreads. Economists jobs surveyed by Dow Jones called for a 0.3% drop last month after data in June showed an unexpected rise of 0.6%.

Stocks have recovered from their pandemic lows at a blistering rate, and some on Wall Street see more gains ahead. “We remain bullish on stocks (particularly cyclical/value) thanks to a strong earnings season, signs of receding risk from the delta variant, and normalization of bond-equity correlation,” JPMorgan wrote in a note to clients Monday.

Despite disappointing economic data from China, the action was taken on Monday. US retail sales in July rose 8.5% year-on-year, lower than the 11.5% expected by economists surveyed by Reuters. Goldman Sachs noted that the impacts would likely be localized.

“Rising COVID case growth is likely fueling the slowdown seen in China and the decline in manufacturing industry sentiment, but the economic impact — at least in the US and Europe — is unlikely to be big,” the firm said Monday in a note to clients.

The second-quarter earnings season is ending, but several retailers will announce their results this week. Home Depot and Walmart are available before the market opens on Tuesday. Target, Lowe's and Macy's are among the names reported later this week.

Source: CNBC