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Wall Street looks to open up Thursday’s trading session to the topside as futures trade in the green early on.
The Dow futures (INDU) gained 0.6%, S&P futures (SPX) rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Futures (NDX) are up 0.5%.
Another bull is awakening from its 2022 slumber as investors continue to pile back into tech stocks that have been shunned for much of the past year.
It’s an interesting turn for the market, with worries over interest rates and a looming recession, but perhaps that is what’s getting cash off the sidelines. Rates will soon peak – as telegraphed by the Fed’s dot plot – and easing may even ensue, while a lower growth environment can see a premium return to the old beloved tech names. Many are also nervous about missing out on the market ride-up, especially when weighing alternatives like high-yielding money market funds and inflation-linked bonds.
The latest: The Nasdaq 100 Index has surged into a new bull market for the first time in nearly three years, with the tech-heavy benchmark now up more than 20% from its closing low on Dec. 28. The latest leg was powered by earnings from Micron Technology, which stressed confidence in industry fundamentals, as well as broader rallies for megacaps Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. Speaking of chips and tech, Nvidia has exploded with an advance of more than 80% so far this year, taking these ETFs higher.
“Some stocks, especially the severely oversold high-quality technology names I discussed in many articles around their lows last fall, probably made long-term bottoms but should continue providing buying opportunities on pullbacks and dips,” wrote Victor Dergunov, SA Investing Group author of The Financial Prophet. Check out the article, The ‘Fed Pivot’ Is Coming – The Bottom Is Close. His “All-Weather Portfolio” is also up by approximately 17% YTD, with its technology segment boosting returns, advancing about 25% since the beginning of the year.
Go deeper: With no fresh news about banking contagion, market participants appear to have doubled down on their risk-on mood. The tech bull market also hasn’t been limited to growth stocks, with recent gains over the past week in financials and energy. Elsewhere, the big concerns for the housing sector haven’t materialized, with pending home sales rising for a third straight month in February and mortgage applications increasing over the past week.