U.S. index futures were clearly pointing to a higher open for Wall Street stocks on Thursday, which happens to be the penultimate trading session of the year.
Shares fell on Wednesday as risk aversion stubbornly suppressed any possible technical recovery. After a mixed open, the major averages declined steadily in morning trade before consolidating for a while. Late afternoon trading saw renewed selling pushing the averages further lower.
With Wednesday’s pullback, the Nasdaq Composite fell to its lowest level since July 2, 2020, and the S&P 500 fell back to its early November lows.
| index | Performance (+/-) | value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq Composite | -1.35% | 10,213.29 | |
| S&P 500 Index | -1.20% | 3,783.22 | |
| Dow Industrials | -1.10% | 32,875.71 |
Wednesday’s sell-off was broad-based, with technology, energy, materials and real estate stocks falling the most.
Fund manager Louis Navellier commented on market action: “With low volume, the market is trying its best to stay afloat after a disappointing start to the official Santa Claus rally.”
“The market seems understandably exhausted, no longer expecting a major technical rally and just hoping to make it through Friday afternoon without further significant losses.”
Market sentiment reflected fears about the year ahead, Navellier suggested. “Most big uncertainties of the year; China Covid, the war in Ukraine, tight energy supplies and restrictive central banks will be waiting for us on the other side,” he said.
Here’s an inside look at index futures trading:
| index | Performance (+/-) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq 100 futures | +0.63% | |
| S&P 500 futures | +0.32% | |
| Dow futures | +0.18% | |
| R2K futures | +0.57% |
In premarket trading on Thursday the SPDR S&P 500 ETF TrustSPY rose 0.43% to…
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