Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) floor on August 08, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Stock futures were slightly higher on Thursday night after investors regained some ground from this week’s sell-off.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 12 points, or less than 0.1%. S&P 500 futures added about 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose nearly 0.2%.
In after-hours trading, Paramount Global climbed more than 5% after posting adjusted earnings that trounced estimates and announcing it’s cutting 15% of its U.S. workforce. E.l.f. Beauty slipped about 10.9% after posting cautious guidance.
Stocks rebounded during Thursday’s regular trading after plunging earlier in the week, as the latest weekly jobless claims number helped alleviate investors’ concerns about the strength of the labor market and state of the U.S. economy.
The S&P 500 advanced 2.3% to end Thursday, posting its best session since November 2022, while the 30-stock Dow surged roughly 683 points, or nearly 1.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 2.87%.
Investors have been attempting to revive the market’s momentum this year after Monday’s steep global sell-off, which was sparked by last Friday’s disappointing U.S. payrolls data, concerns about the Federal Reserve’s rate-cutting timeline and the unwinding of the Japanese yen carry trades.
Investors seem to have bought the dip, deeming the pullback to be a fairly healthy correction.
“The fundamental backdrop remains favorable for stocks to trend higher, particularly for investors with time horizons that extend to year-end and beyond,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “Near term, heightened levels of volatility are likely to be more the norm versus the exception, as broad-market valuations remain elevated and seasonality trends suggest tempered returns during the ‘dog days of summer.'”
Even as the major averages surged on Thursday, they remain down on a week-to-date basis. The S&P 500 is off 0.5% this week, while the Nasdaq and the Dow are down roughly 0.7%. Both the broad-market S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are on pace for their fourth losing week.