Exchange-Traded Funds Edge Higher, Equity Futures Mixed Pre-Bell Friday as Investors Await Hints About Potential Rate Cuts

MT Newswires Live
05 Jul 2024

The broad market exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was up 0.04% and the actively traded Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was 0.1% higher in Friday's premarket activity, as investors wait for the jobs report to parse hints of the Federal Reserve's plans for an interest rate cut.

US stock futures were mixed, with S&P 500 Index futures up 0.02%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipping 0.04%, and Nasdaq futures gaining 0.1% before the start of regular trading.

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams, speaking at 5:40 am ET in Mumbai, India, said the Fed "still have a way to go to reach our 2% [inflation] target on a sustained basis."

The June employment situation, or "jobs report" from Washington, will be released at 8:30 am ET.

The Baker Hughes domestic oil-and-gas rig count will be released at 1 pm ET.

In premarket action, bitcoin was down by 5.1% and the cryptocurrency fund ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) was 8.5% lower.

Power Play:

Health Care

The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) was flat. The Vanguard Health Care Index Fund (VHT) was up 0.2% and the iShares US Healthcare ETF (IYH) advanced 0.7%. The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) was 0.2% higher.

IM Cannabis (IMCC) shares were down 3.5% premarket after the company announced a 1-for-6 reverse stock split effective July 12.

Winners and Losers:

Consumer

The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) edged up 0.04%, while the Vanguard Consumer Staples Fund (VDC) was down 1.4%. The iShares US Consumer Staples ETF (IYK) was inactive, and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) gained 0.4%. The VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) was inactive, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) was 0.4% higher.

Nio (NIO) traded down 2.4% pre-bell after the company said that Steven Wei Feng stepped down as its chief financial officer for personal reasons.

Financial

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) advanced 0.1%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was up 0.2%, while its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was 0.1% higher.

Fanhua (FANH) shares were up 3.4% pre-bell Friday after the company said that its board approved an additional $20 million share buyback capacity, increasing its share repurchase program to $40 million.

Technology

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) was up 0.2%, and the iShares US Technology ETF (IYW) edged down 0.03%, while the iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF (IGM) was flat. Among semiconductor ETFs, SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) was inactive, while the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose by 0.7%.

Instructure (INST) was up 2.4% in recent Friday premarket activity after Reuters reported Wednesday that KKR (KKR) and Francisco Partners have reached the final round of bidding to acquire the education software company and plan to deliver binding offers next week.

Industrial

Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) advanced 0.1% and the Vanguard Industrials Index Fund (VIS) was up 0.5%, while the iShares US Industrials ETF (IYJ) was inactive.

(HAFN) shares were down nearly 1% before the opening bell, a day after the tanker owner said its Chief Executive Mikael Skov sold 1 million of the company's shares at 87.7775 Norwegian kroner ($8.30) per share.

Energy

The iShares US Energy ETF (IYE) was inactive, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) was marginally up by 0.01%.

TotalEnergies (TTE) stock was up 1.5% and Shell (SHEL) shares gained 1% while BP (BP) was up 0.8% before Friday's opening bell after Bloomberg reported that the three companies and Mitsui will invest in Abu Dhabi National Oil's next liquefied natural gas export project.

Commodities

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil retreated 0.1% to $83.83 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas was 2.4% lower at $2.36 per 1 million British Thermal Units. United States Oil Fund (USO) gained 0.9%, while the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) fell 3.4%.

Gold futures for August advanced 0.1% to $2,371.20 an ounce on the Comex, while silver futures gained 0.1% to $30.86 an ounce. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) added 0.3%, and iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was 0.2% higher.

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