Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Wednesday night after both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose to fresh records during the regular session.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both traded around the flatline. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 45 points, or 0.1%.
In the regular session, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq rose to new all-time highs and closed at new records. The broad market index advanced 0.80%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.59% to post its 11th straight gain in a row. The blue-chip Dow bucked the trend, losing 72.27 points, or 0.15%.
Stocks have risen in recent days on the possibility of a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran. President Donald Trump said in a Fox Business interview that aired on Wednesday that the Iran war is “very close to over,” claiming once again that Tehran wants to “make a deal very badly.”
A White House official told CNBC on Tuesday that a second round of negotiations between Washington and Iran is under discussion. Nothing has been officially scheduled yet, according to the official, who asked not to be named to discuss the administration’s internal plans.
On Monday, the S&P 500 wiped out all of its losses since the beginning of the Iran war.
“We’re basically back to where we were in late February in terms of the sentiment indicators and the valuation,” Tim Hayes, chief global investment strategist at Ned Davis Research, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Wednesday. “If we’re going to continue higher, I think we are going to have to have a broadening out here and not be just about the Nasdaq.”
But Hayes also took on a cautionary tone, noting that investors may be too quick to jump into a market rally.
“I’d be a little cautious right now. I don’t think this is time to jump back in,” he added. “There’s a sort of a quick return to a lot of these stocks, but does it follow through? Does it broaden out? That remains to be seen.”
PepsiCo, Travelers, U.S. Bancorp, Abbott Labs and Charles Schwab are among the companies set to report earnings before Thursday’s opening bell. Traders will also watch out for weekly jobless claims, as well as March’s capacity utilization and industrial production numbers.
