Futures linked to the DOW JONES rose 0.07% to 44,186 points, while those of the S&P 500 fell 0.09%, to 6,080 points. NASDAQ 100 futures fell 0.40% to 21,764 points.
The major New York indices are coming off a winning session yesterday in which the Dow Jones added 0.30% to close positive for the third consecutive day. He S&P 500 reached historical intraday highs of 6,100.81 pointsalthough it ended up rising 0.61%, just below its closing highs, which stood at 6,090.27 points since December 6.
The greatest advances were for the Nasdaq Composite, which closed with a rise of 1.28% driven by the values most related to Artificial Intelligence after the announcement made a day earlier by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, of the Stargate project, by which will be mobilized in principle until 500,000 million dollars of private financing in four years for the development of Artificial Intelligence infrastructures in the USA.
The stock market is getting a boost from enthusiasm over potential tax cuts and deregulation under President Donald Trump, as well as signs of resilient economic growth. However, a dose of uncertainty remains regarding the new administration’s tariff plans.
In that sense, all eyes will be on the Trump’s appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davoswhich is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Spanish peninsular time.
One of the market’s great fears is that the imposition of tariffs will end up leading to a global trade war, with upward pressure on prices that will stop the pace of easing of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy in its tracks.
The odds that the Fed will leave monetary policy unchanged at its meeting next week are 99.5%, according to the CME Group’s Fedwatch tool. In fact, traders expect the central bank to leave interest rates unchanged during the first half of 2025.
In fixed income, always very sensitive to changes in monetary policy, today the profitability of the Spanish ten-year debt bond rises to 4.635%adding pressure on stocks.
On the economic data front, investors have seen the usual weekly unemployment data. The number of people who requested state unemployment aid in the US stood at 223,000 last weekas announced by the US Department of Labor. Economists polled by Reuters had expected claims to be at 220,000.
The four-week moving average of new claims, which is considered a more reliable indication of labor market trends as it reduces spikes in volatility, rose to 213,500.
The other focus is on the quarterly results season, and even more so after Netflix soared 9% yesterday after beating market expectations. With 65 S&P 500 companies having already published their accounts, the average increase in earnings per share (EPS) is +8.1%, compared to the +7.5% expected before the first company’s publication. According to Bankinter calculations, 83.1% of companies beat results, 13.8% disappoint. In the last quarter (Q3 2024) EPS increased by +9.1%, compared to the +5.1% initially expected.
“Forward earnings estimates continue to reach new highs,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist at Truist, speaking to CNBC. “There’s been a lot of talk about the election, and the post-election scenario and the Fed, and whether the economy is growing too fast or too slow. One thing that has been remarkably resilient is forward earnings estimates, and we’re off to a good start as well.”
Electronic Arts, however, seems to be the exception. Its shares plummet 16.4% in the pre-opening of the market after the video game company has cut its reserve forecasts for the yearespecially due to the poor performance of one of its flagships, EA Sports FC (better known as ‘FIFA’, its name until a few years ago)
For the fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 31, EA expects to report about $2.215 billion in net bookings, up from previous guidance of $2.4 billion to $2.55 billion. Revenue for the December quarter will be around $1.88 billion, with diluted earnings per share of $1.11.
Falls of more than 6% for American Airlines after disappointing the market with its forecasts for the first quarter. The airline expects to lose between 20 and 40 cents per share in the first three months of 2025, when analysts had predicted red numbers of no more than 4 cents. For the full year, adjusted earnings per share will be between $1.70 and $2.70, compared to a consensus estimate of $2.42.
In the fourth quarter, the Texas-based airline beat expectations, with earnings per share of 86 cents per share, well above the expected 64 cents. Revenues reached 13.66 billion, compared to the expected 13.39 billion.
Alcoa fell 1% in New York morning despite having exceeded expectations with its fourth quarter results. The aluminum giant reached earnings per share of $1.04 on revenue of $3.49 billion. Analysts had predicted a profit of 97 cents per share and revenue of 3.34 billion.
Micron Technology falls 3.5% after South Korean rival SK Hynix warned of steeper declines in demand for its memory chips used in smartphones and computers.
In raw materials markets, oil prices are moving without much change today after yesterday’s falls, with traders awaiting news on Trump’s policies. The international benchmark Brent rose 0.47% to $79.38 per barrel, while US West Texas futures advanced 0.48% to $75.80.
The euro fell 0.07% against the dollar, leaving the exchange rate at 1.0405 dollars for each community currency.