Stock futures edged up Friday after the Dow Jones suffered its worst session in over a year, falling 1.53%. Nvidia surged 9% on strong guidance and a stock split, but it couldn’t buoy the market. Robust economic data dashed hopes for Fed rate cuts. Intuit shares dropped 6% post-earnings. Traders await April’s durable goods and May’s consumer sentiment reports on Friday. The S&P 500 and Dow are on track for weekly losses, while the Nasdaq shows a modest gain.
Investor bullishness reached a 6-week high, with 47% optimistic about the next six months, according to the AAII poll. This marks 28 weeks out of 29 above the historic average of 37.5%. Bearish sentiment rose to 26.3%, while neutral sentiment dropped to 26.6%. Such sentiment readings are seen as contrarian indicators, suggesting that high bullishness might indicate market peaks, while high bearishness could signal market bottoms.
Coinbase jumped 5% in extended trading after the SEC approved a rule change enabling ether ETFs. Robinhood gained 2%. Coinbase, offering diverse crypto services and assets, stands to benefit significantly. Ether’s price rose 2% Thursday evening, following a 20% rally earlier in the week on investor optimism. This positions ether for its best week in over a year.
OPEC+ will meet virtually on June 2 to discuss crude production policy. Originally scheduled for June 1 in Vienna, the meeting was moved due to uncertainty among delegates. OPEC+ is currently cutting 2 million barrels per day until year’s end, with additional voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day by key members like Saudi Arabia and Russia until the end of Q2. Market participants are watching for potential extensions of these cuts amid Middle East conflicts.
Gold prices hit a two-week low on Friday, set for their biggest weekly loss in nearly eight months due to diminishing rate cut expectations after a hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve tone. Gold fell 5% from its $2,449.89 high on Monday. Rising Treasury yields and a stronger dollar impacted metals. Chinese reserve buying remains a supportive factor, though its pace slowed. The gold/silver ratio drop suggests potential for gold momentum to shift positively again.
James Hyerczyk is a U.S. based seasoned technical analyst and educator with over 40 years of experience in market analysis and trading, specializing in chart patterns and price movement. He is the author of two books on technical analysis and has a background in both futures and stock markets.