Stock futures rise after Dow falls in unrelenting sell off for

Stock futures rise after Dow falls in unrelenting sell-off for eighth straight week

Traders on the NYSE as of May 20, 2022.

Source: New York SE

Stock futures rose in Sunday night trade after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for its eighth straight week amid a broader market sell-off.

Futures on the Dow Industrial Average gained 130 points, or 0.42%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.5%.

The moves came after the S&P 500 plunged into bear market on an intraday basis on Friday. While the benchmark was down 20% at times, it did not close in a bear market after a late-day comeback.

In Friday’s regular trading session, the S&P 500 closed 0.01% higher at 3,901.36 after falling as much as 2.3% earlier in the session. The Dow gained 8.77 points at 31,261.90 after falling as much as 600 points and the Nasdaq was down 0.3%.

The S&P 500 is currently 19% below its record high, while the Dow is down 15.4%. The Nasdaq is already deep in bear market territory, down 30% from its peak.

Last week marked the Dow’s first eight-week losing streak since 1923, while the S&P 500 ended a seven-week losing streak, its worst since 2001.

The Nasdaq experienced its seventh consecutive negative week for the first time since March 2001. The tech-heavy index also posted its lowest intraday level since November 2020 on Friday.

Eight out of 11 sectors ended the week lower, led by consumer staples, which fell 8.63% and posted its worst weekly performance since March 2020. Energy ended the week up 1.09% at the top. Consumer discretionary and communications services also ended the week down more than 32% from their 52-week highs.

“Investors try to understand what exactly is happening and are always trying to guess the outcome,” said Susan Schmidt of Aviva Investors. “Investors hate and markets hate uncertainty, and this is a time when they don’t have a clear indication of what’s going to happen with this push-pull between inflation and the economy.”

Investors are eyeing a fresh set of gains this week, including a slew of big retail names. Zoom Video is expected to report results Monday, followed by Costco, Nvidia, Dollar General, Nordstrom and Macy’s later in the week.