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Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
Stock futures rose slightly on Monday as Wall Street kicked off the second quarter following a strong start to the year, and traders weighed fresh U.S. inflation data.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 110 points, or 0.3%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.
The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, released Friday during the market closure for Good Friday, showed inflation rose 2.8% in February, which is in line with expectations. The inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve also rose 0.3% from a month ago, the Commerce Department said.
“This showcases progress on inflation is slow-moving and provides one more bullet in the bandolier of those who are calling the bluff on the Fed’s next rate cut,” said Giuseppe Sette, Toggle AI’s co-founder and president. “As a reminder, the Fed keeps rates consistently higher than inflation, except when they foresee a slowdown.”
The major averages are coming off a winning first quarter. The S&P 500 jumped 10.2% for its best first-quarter performance since 2019, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 5.6%. The Nasdaq Composite popped 9.1%.
Markets also wrapped up a winning March and their fifth consecutive positive month, with the S&P and Dow rising 3.1% and 2.1%, respectively. The Nasdaq edged up 1.8% for the month.
Those monthly and quarterly gains brought the Dow to within striking distance of 40,000. The 30-stock Dow closed Thursday’s session at 39,807.37.
Ongoing bets on artificial intelligence stocks and tailwinds from Nvidia have continued powering the market higher in the new year after a strong 2023. That comes alongside the expectation for the start of a rate-cutting cycle from the Federal Reserve later this year, with markets pricing in a cut as soon as June.
According to Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, this rally could be poised to continue. He noted that the S&P finished the year higher than 10 out of the 11 previous times it notched a gain of 10% or more in the first quarter.
Wall Street is readying for a busy week of economic data that kicks off Monday, with construction spending for February and ISM manufacturing data for March due Monday. The keynote March jobs report is on deck for Friday.
Correction: The S&P 500 had its best first quarter performance since 2019. A previous version misstated the milestone.
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