Stock Futures Rise Slightly After S&P 500 Best Day In More Than Two Weeks

Stock futures edged up in overnight trading on Wednesday after a rebound on Wall Street as the market tried to avoid the seasonally weak September.

Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures contracts both gained 0.1%.

Moderna edged up in extended trade after the company released more data on groundbreaking Covid cases that support the push for widespread use of vaccine boosters.

The S&P 500 gained 0.9% on Wednesday amid a 3.8% jump in the energy sector, posting its biggest daily increase since August 27. The Dow blue chips rose more than 200 points, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8%.

After seven straight months of gains for the S&P 500 and a nearly 20% rally to all-time highs this year, many on Wall Street expect choppier trading and lower returns for the remainder of the year. The story isn’t in favor of the market either, as September tends to be a generally negative month for stocks. The S&P 500 has fallen 0.56% in the month on average since 1945, according to CFRA data.

“The wall of worry is becoming increasingly difficult to climb, with increasing depth and breadth of concern and a potentially fatigued market,” said Mark Hackett, head of investment research at Nationwide.

So far this month, the 30-stock Dow Jones is down 1.6%, while the S&P 500 is down 0.9%, on track for its worst monthly performance since January. The Nasdaq fell 0.6% this month.

“The stressors facing the market have not changed significantly, including the Delta variant, profit headwinds related to supply chain and labor issues, fiscal headwinds and Monetary issues have turned into headwinds and concerns bubbling around China, ”Hackett said.

Investors will be watching the latest jobless claims data on Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a total of 320,000 Americans to file for unemployment insurance in the week ending September 11, up slightly from the week’s 310,000 former.

Traders are also bracing for a potential increase in volatility on Friday. The so-called quadruple witchcraft will occur at the end of the week, as stock and index futures and options will expire on the same day.