S&P 500 Futures Index Sticks To Tech-Rally And Softer U.S Data Inspired Gains Above $4500.00 Mark, NFP-Data Eyed
Key Takeaways:
- The S&P 500 futures index inched slightly higher on Friday during the Asian session, extending Thursday's market rally inspired by a combination of factors
- The primary index closed higher on Thursday, underpinned by the Alphabet and AMD Tech-Rally and softer U.S. jobs data report
- Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) and O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) led the list of top gainers and top losers, respectively, before the bell
- The market's focus entirely shifts toward the release of the U.S. NFP data report for fresh directional impetus
The S&P 500 futures index rose slightly higher on Friday during the Asian session, prolonging the bullish recovery momentum for a second consecutive day, supported by firm market bets that the Fed will leave rates unchanged next week as investors eagerly await the release of the November payroll report data for further confirmation of the Fed's following policy action.
As of press time, futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.07%, or 33 points, to trade at the $4585.53 level following a modest bounce from the vicinity of the 4579.7 level earlier today. The moves follow a lacklustre performance in extended trading on Thursday night. Still, the primary index managed to close with heavy gains inspired by a tech-led rally by Alphabet and AMD stocks as further data pointed to a cooling labour market in the U.S., suggesting the Fed will leave rates unchanged during the December meeting.
Shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company (NASDAQ: GOOGL), rose more than 5% on Thursday, a day after the company unveiled its latest A.I. model, Gemini. The new multi-model A.I. system, which understands audio, photos, and video, comes as tech giants look to take the fight to rivals OpenAI, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Meta (NASDAQ: META).
Additionally, shares of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) rallied Thursday after the company announced the launch of its new GenAI chip. In a note by Analyst Srini Pajjuri, "AMD officially launched its Instinct MI300X Data Center GPU targeted for A.I. and ML workloads," Pajjuri said.
Elsewhere, a Thursday's U.S. Department of Labor report showed that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased by 1,000 to 220,000 on the week ending December 2, slightly under market expectations of 222,000 but marking the second-highest reading since September. The result extended the current trend that the U.S. labor market shows signs of cooling from tighter levels displayed earlier in the year, albeit remaining strong from a historical standpoint.
This, combined with the softer jobs data report released earlier this week, points to a cooling labor market, solidifying market expectations that the Fed will leave rates unchanged after its two-day policy meeting next week. Furthermore, these, combined with the November Monetary Policy Meeting minutes and the softer U.S. consumer and producer inflation reports released mid-last month, fully reinforce market expectations that the Fed will stick to its status quo during the December meeting.
Gainers and Losers
Here are the top S&P500 index movers today before the bell, a week in which the primary index is on pace to break a five-week winning streak.
Top Gainers⚡
The top performers on the S&P500 Index were:
- Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) added 9.89%/11.55 points to trade at $128.37 per share.
- Kenvue, Inc. (NYSE: KVUE) added 7.32%/1.42 points to trade at $20.81 per share.
- Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) gained 7.16%/1.53 points to trade at $22.91 per share.
Top Losers💥
The worst performers on the S&P500 Index were:
- O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: ORLY) lost 3.20%/31.49 points to trade at $953.71 per share.
- Hess, Corp. (NYSE: HES) declined 3.01%/4.10 points to trade at $132.18 per share.
- Autozone, Inc. (NYSE: AZO) shed 2.87%/77.81 points to trade at $2632.81 per share.
As we advance, investors look forward to releasing the U.S. monthly jobs data report, popularly known as Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP), which is expected to increase the number of people employed last month by 180k compared to 150k in October.
Technical Outlook: Four-Hours S&P 500 Futures Index Price Chart
From a technical standpoint, the US500 index extended the modest bounce from the vicinity of the 4542.47 level after the primary index found support from the key support level plotted by an upward ascending trendline extending from the November 30, 2023 swing lower-lows. Subsequently, the index found acceptance above the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level (Golden FIB) at 4577.83 before further rallying to trade near the 4587.77 ceilings and the key resistance level plotted by an upward ascending trendline extending from the December 1, 2023 swing higher-highs. A convincing move above the aforementioned barricades will pave the way toward the 4592.23 level (R2), followed by the 4599.49 level.
On the flip side, if sellers return and catalyze a bearish turnaround, initial support comes at the 4577.83 level. If sellers manage to breach this key floor, downside momentum could pick up pace, paving the way for a move toward the 4571.08 support level, which corresponds to the 50% fib retracement of the December 7 to 8th December rally, about which, if this level fails to defend itself, the S&P 500 Index could extend a leg down to the 4562.71 (S2) and 4548.68 (S3) floors.
