Stock futures pointed slightly higher Thursday evening after a mixed session on Wall Street, during which tech shares broke further to the upside to close at fresh record highs.
The broader market, however, ended Thursday’s session lower. While the Nasdaq Composite powered to yet another record high, S&P 500 ended lower, and the Dow fell by 361 points, or 1.4%, for its lowest close in six days. Each of Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft hit record closing levels again on Thursday, with investors crowding further into tech and software names viewed as most likely to recover strongly in the wake of the pandemic.
Thursday’s session widened the yawning gap in performance between sectors weighed heavily in tech stocks, and those without. The S&P 500’s information technology and consumer discretionary sectors – the latter of which includes Amazon – have each rallied well over 10% since June 1, versus a 3% gain in the broader market. The energy sector has fallen 11.7% since June 1, and the utilities and financials sectors have dropped 5.6% and 3.9%, respectively.
“FAANG stocks went through a stress test that is greater than anything we will see in five lifetimes,” Tom Lee, Fundstrat global advisors managing partner and head of research, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday. FAANG names include Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet.
“They survived the Great Depression, and they actually grew their business, their revenues,” he added, referring to the period marking the economic nadir spurred by the pandemic. “And I think that means that investors realize that the value of their cash flow is that much more valuable. I think it’s a re-rating, and I think it’s a permanent re-rate. And that’s why they’ve blown past their prior highs.”
Signs that the coronavirus case was worsening still more in the South and West drove a risk-off mood elsewhere in markets. California, Florida and Texas each posted record one-day new coronavirus deaths as of Thursday. Crude oil prices (CL=F) extended their decline in late trading after posting their biggest drop in two weeks earlier Thursday at more than 3%.
Big banks stocks stabilized in late trading after lagging during the regular session. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Wells Fargo was planning to cut thousands of jobs this year, which would put the bank among a growing list of firms slashing their workforces to pare down costs during the pandemic. Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Harley-Davidson (HOG), Nielsen (NLSN) and United Airlines (UAL) have each announced planned job cuts earlier this week.
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Here were the main moves at the start of the overnight session for U.S. equity futures, as of 6:09 p.m. ET:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,145.5, up 4.5 points or 0.14%
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Dow futures (YM=F): 25,611.00, up 40 points, or 0.16%
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 10,734.5, up 7 points, or 0.07%
An official wearing a protective face mask speaks to people waiting in line outside NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health Morrisania neighborhood health center, one of New York City’s new walk-in COVID-19 testing centers, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Bronx borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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