US pre-open: Futures in the red following Dow's record close

20th Sep 2024 10:52

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Friday following yesterday's rally.

As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.03%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.30% and 0.46% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 522.09 points higher on Thursday as investors cheered the Federal Reserve Bank's decision to cut its base overnight interest rate by half a percentage point.

Trade Nation's David Morrison said: "US stock index futures were a touch lower in early trade this morning. But this simply represented a modest pull-back following yesterday's broad-based, yet tech-led, surge.

"The feeling is that this first rate cut since March 2020, and the prospect of more to come this year and beyond, fired the starting pistol for what many believe could be a strong rally into the year-end. But are investors getting carried away? Could there be reasons to temper the current bullishness? For sure.The 50 basis point cut seemed to come out of nowhere. It certainly wasn't on the cards until a few days before the meeting itself, when all FOMC members were in 'purdah', and unable to talk publicly about monetary policy. Recent employment numbers have disappointed, and initially raised fears of a 'hard landing'. And while in other respects the US economy appears to be ticking along quite smoothly, it doesn't stand in complete isolation from the rest of the world."

In the corporate space, Nike revealed that chief executive John Donahoe had suddenly stood down from the role, while logistics giant FedEx traded lower after it trimmed full-year earnings and revenue guidance.

No major data points were scheduled for release on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com