Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 20, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures traded near the flatline Monday night, after the major averages took a breather from their rally.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures inched up just 11 points, or 0.03%. Futures tied to both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 added about 0.1% each.
The three major averages ended Monday lower. The 30-stock Dow dipped 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell around 0.3% each. The pullbacks come on the back of last week’s strong gains, during which the indexes reached new all-time closing high levels.
Month to date, the major U.S. stock benchmarks are on pace for their fifth straight winning month. The broad market index is up more than 2% in March. The Nasdaq Composite is toting a 1.8% advance for the period, while the Dow is up 0.8%.
Despite some concerns that the market rally has crossed into overbought territory, investors still can’t be underweight on equities as of now, according to 3Fourteen Research cofounder Warren Pies.
“There are a lot of people who are underweight or under-exposed to this market, and they’re going to scramble to get exposed,” Pies told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Monday. “I think the combination of a soft landing, a Fed that has your back and under-invested strategists and institutions means that this rally can keep going.”
More economic data releases are slated for Tuesday. March’s consumer confidence data will be released in the morning. Durable goods orders and the Richmond Fed’s manufacturing survey will also provide insight on the health of the manufacturing sector.
New York Stock Exchange prepares to delist shares of EV-maker Fisker
The New York Stock Exchange notified troubled electric vehicle manufacturer Fisker that it will suspend trading in the stock and begin proceedings to delist the company.
NYSE Regulation pointed to Fisker’s “abnormally low” trading price as a factor in its decision, the company said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares were halted earlier on Monday, and at the time they were valued at about 9 cents apiece.
News of the upcoming delisting arrives after talks over a potential deal between Fisker and an unnamed large automaker collapsed.
The stock has slid about 95% in 2024, and it’s off more than 98% in the past year.
–Darla Mercado
Investors are staying in cyclical sectors despite risk of market pullback, strategist says
The market soared to new highs last week, following the March FOMC meeting. But Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, believes that a selloff could be on the horizon for equities.
“We’re coming off of a post-FOMC high,” he told CNBC in a Monday interview. “The market is getting more and more vulnerable to a market decline or a pullback in prices.”
Still, investors remain in more cyclical sectors, with Stovall seeing an improvement in activity in the energy, industrials and materials categories.
“They are continuing to say that the market will likely benefit from lower interest rates and see its effect on the more cyclical sectors,” he remarked. “I don’t see investors taking a very defensive position at this point. Instead of going into staples, healthcare and utilities, they’re likely to continue to gravitate towards materials, industrials and energy.”
— Lisa Kailai Han
