Dow futures rise as market tries to avoid losses for the week

U.S. stock futures rose slightly on early Friday morning as the market indexes tried to avoid a fourth consecutive week of losses. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 86 points. Contracts tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite also traded in mildly positive territory.

The move in futures comes after the three major U.S. indexes held on to slight gains during a choppy session Thursday but were still negative for the week. The Nasdaq Composite slightly outperformed, gaining about 0.4%, and has also been the best performing index this week.

That outperformance for the tech-heavy index is a reversal from earlier during this market pullback. Much of September’s losses have been concentrated in megacap tech stocks, which carry a heavy weight in the indexes. Shares of Apple rose 1% on Thursday but were still down more than 19% from their recent closing high on Sept. 1.

The state of the economic recovery has become a hot topic in recent weeks on Wall Street, especially after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg led many strategists to downgrade the chances for another relief package before the election. On Thursday, Goldman Sachs cut its fourth quarter projection for gross domestic product growth to 3% on an annualized basis, down from 6%.

House Democrats are preparing a $2.4 trillion relief package that they could vote on as soon as next week, a source familiar with the plans told CNBC. The bill would include enhanced unemployment benefits and aid to airlines, but the overall price tag remains well above what Republican leaders have said they are willing to spend.

Dow futures rise as market tries to avoid losses for the week, CNBC, Sep 25