U.S. stock futures rise: strong gains in Big Tech stocks

U.S. stock futures rose on Thursday night as traders were set to end a week which saw the broader market reach a record level. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded 101 points higher, or 0.4%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.3% each. Earlier this week, the S&P 500 broke above its late-February high and notched a fresh all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite also hit a record on Thursday. The S&P 500 ended Thursday’s session up 0.4% for the week while the Nasdaq was up over 2% week to date.

The lion’s share of those gains has been driven by strong gains in Big Tech stocks. Apple is up nearly 3% this week and became the first publicly traded company in the U.S. to reach a market valuation of $2 trillion. Amazon and Alphabet have rallied over 4% this week and Microsoft is up 2.7% in that time.

Sentiment has been kept in check this week, however, by mixed economic data and a warning from the Federal Reserve.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial weekly jobless claims came in above 1 million, surpassing a Dow Jones estimate of 923,000. To be sure, continuing claims decreased by more than 600,000.

On Wednesday, the Fed released the minutes from its July meeting that said the coronavirus pandemic “would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term.”

The latest data on U.S. existing home sales is due for release Friday at 10 a.m. ET.

U.S. stock futures rise as Wall Street tries to end a record-setting week on a high note, CNBC, Aug 21