Stock futures are barely changed
Investors tried to hold on to the January rally despite concerns about monetary policy and slowing earnings, as evidenced by the small change in stock futures on Friday.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 14 points or less than 0.1%. Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 were up 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively.
Nordstrom fell more than 4% after reporting disappointing holiday sales and lowering its year-end forecast. Netflix rose 5% after reporting more subscribers than expected, despite failing to estimate quarterly earnings from analysts.
Wall Street is coming off another losing session, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 losing three days in a row, as corporate earnings and economic data point to an economic slowdown.
The Dow Jones fell more than 252 points, or 0.76%, and is now down 0.31% for the year. The S&P 500 fell 0.76% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.96%, but both indices are up this year.
All three indices should close lower this week. The Dow Jones is down 3.67%, putting it on track for its worst week since September. The S&P 500 is down more than 2.512% and could have its worst week since December. The Nasdaq is down more than 2% and is on its way to snapping a two-week winning streak.
Investors will continue to monitor corporate earnings in the coming weeks, with SLB and Ally Financial reporting on Friday. They will also pay close attention to speeches by Fed officials ahead of the central bank meeting in February, looking for clues about the size of the possible rate hike.
European market movements
On Friday morning, European markets were flat as stocks failed to recover from Thursday’s sell-off, and the outlook for monetary policy remained firmly in the spotlight.
Early trading saw little movement in the pan-European Stoxx 600 index. Insurance shares rose 0.5%, while autos were down 0.5%.
According to the president of the Federal Reserve Bank, John Williams, they need more monetary policy to bring inflation down to the desired level. Williams delivered a speech at a Society of Fixed Income Analysts event. He said it’s clear the Fed still has more work to do to bring inflation down to the 2% target on a sustained basis.
