Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, April 14, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stock futures were flat in overnight trading Thursday as the S&P 500 tried to avoid another losing week amid busy earnings and rising bond yields.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 20 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both traded 0.1% lower.
The overnight action followed a dramatic reversal Thursday that saw major averages wiping earlier gains and closing lower. The Dow ended the day more than 300 points lower, while the S&P 500 dropped nearly 1.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite bore the brunt of the sell-off on surging rates, sliding 2%.
“Stagflation concerns resurface on the back of real-time signs of a tight labor market and waning business sentiment, coupled with another bounce in 10-year Treasury yields — and all peppered with a deluge of earnings releases,” Chris Hussey, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, said in a note.
For this week, the Dow is up 1% and on pace to break a three-week losing streak. The S&P is up less than 0.1% on the week and attempting to break a two-week losing streak. The Nasdaq, however, is down 1.3% week to date, on track to post its third negative week in a row.
Weighing on sentiment Thursday was Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comment on the possibility of a larger-than-usual rate hike for next month.
Powell said during an International Monetary Fund panel moderated by CNBC’s Sara Eisen that taming inflation is “absolutely essential” and a 50-basis-point hike is on the table for May.
Meanwhile, the first-quarter earnings season continues to roll on. Snap saw its shares jump more than 6% during extended trading after the social media platform reported first-quarter earnings that included strong growth in daily users.
Gap shares plunged 10% after the company announced the CEO of its Old Navy division, Nancy Green, is leaving the business this week. Gap also slashed its outlook for net sales growth in fiscal 2022.
Verizon is slated to post results before the bell Friday.
