Key Events
Pinned Post
Stocks were headed for further gains on Friday, with investors still feeling optimistic about the health of the U.S. economy thanks to a strong batch of retail sales and jobs data.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 54 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.1%, after both indexes closed at record highs.
Figures published Thursday showed retail spending rose at a faster-than-expected rate in June, and the number of jobless claims for last week came in below economists’ expectations. That has helped shore up confidence in the U.S. economy.
The data “reassured investors that the consumer was still resilient,” Deutsche Bank macro strategist Jim Reid said. “So collectively there is a growing sense of the U.S. economy continuing to run hot, despite there being less than two weeks now until the Aug. 1 tariff deadline,” he added.
Signs of a healthy consumer could also strengthen the case for the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates at their current levels, despite ongoing pressure from President Donald Trump to reduce them. Fed Gov. Christopher Waller broke ranks with his boss Jerome Powell on Thursday when he called for the central bank to cut borrowing costs when it meets later this month.
The second-quarter earnings season is also off to a solid-enough start, with video streamer Netflix topping Wall Street’s expectations for profit and revenue after Thursday’s close. Post-it Notes maker 3M and credit card provider American Express are among the companies set to report on Friday.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note slipped 1 basis point to 4.44% in early trading. The U.S. dollar fell 0.3% against a weighted basket of its peers, and gold prices were up 0.2% to $3,352 per Troy ounce.
