Market information is displayed on monitors as a trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange on April 4, 2024.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
U.S. stock futures ticked higher on Tuesday night after the S&P 500 notched its third straight day of losses.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose by 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.16%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 56 points, or 0.15%.
In extended trading hours, United Airlines gained 5% after posting a narrower-than-expected loss and beating on revenue. J.B. Hunt Transport Services fell 5% after missing analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines.
The Dow ended Tuesday’s trading session higher by 0.17%, breaking a six-day losing streak. The index was carried higher by UnitedHealth, which rose more than 5% after posting beats on the top and bottom lines in the first quarter.
The S&P 500 fell 0.21%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.12%. It was the third straight day of declines for both averages.
The moves come after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the Federal Reserve needs to see more progress on the inflation front before the U.S. central bank is likely to begin cutting rates. The comments did little to assuage the market’s pessimism, said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst with Baird.
“The primary headwind is the hawkish repricing of Fed expectations. I don’t think Fed Chair Powell did much to ease those concerns today, perhaps intentionally,” he told CNBC. “The market is getting to a place where it’s questioning whether there will be a rate cut at all in 2024.”
Mayfield sees equities trading mostly range-bound in the near term, with an exception being if any geopolitical event spikes oil prices even higher.
U.S. Bancorp and Travelers are set to report their earnings Wednesday before the bell.
Rising margin loans are a warning sign for the market, Interactive Brokers’ Thomas Peterffy says
A recent uptick in margin loans is flashing warning signs for the market, according to Thomas Peterffy, the founder and chairman of Interactive Brokers.
Compared to the year-ago quarter, margin loans – a type of financing in which investors borrow against their existing assets – rose 30% to $51.2 billion — an all-time high, the investor said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Tuesday.
“Margin loans keep rising, and that’s never a bullish sign,” Peterffy said. “That usually foretells a market that is going to slow down, so that is what we’re probably going to be seeing.”
As an example, the investor pointed to the market collapse two years ago, when margin loans rose to another all-time high right before the sell-off.
However, Peterffy noted that he sees the market rising over the long term as inflation and interest rates stay high.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: United Airlines, Autodesk and J.B. Hunt Transport Services
These are the stocks moving the most in after-hours trading:
- United Airlines — The aircraft carrier stock gained nearly 6% after beating analyst expectations for its first-quarter results on the back of strong travel demand. United Airline added that it expects to post earnings of between $3.75 and $4.25 per share for its second quarter, higher than the $3.76 analysts were expecting. Shares of American Airlines were also trading 1.5% higher.
- Autodesk — The software stock slid 2.4%. Autodesk announced that it will further delay its annual 10-K filing due to an ongoing internal investigation by the company’s audit committee of its board of directors.
- J.B. Hunt Transport Services — Shares fell more than 5% after the transportation and logistics posted weaker-than-expected earnings and revenue last quarter. Earnings came out to $1.22 per share, less than the $1.52 analysts had expected. J.B. Hunt’s $2.94 billion revenue also fell short of the $3.12 billion analysts had anticipated.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Stock futures open higher
Stock futures traded higher Tuesday night.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all traded close to 0.2% higher shortly after 6 p.m. ET.
— Lisa Kailai Han
