#Market Snapshot: Dow futures up 170 points as S&P 500 aims for record

What are major indexes doing?

• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
  YM00,
  +0.49%
  rose 177 points, or 0.5%, to 33,936.

• S&P 500 futures
  ES00,
  +0.47%
  were up 20.85 points, or 0.5%, to 4,252.25.

• Nasdaq-100 futures
  NQ00,
  +0.57%
  advanced 82 points, or 0.6%, to trade at 14,345.

On Wednesday, the Nasdaq
COMP,
+0.13%
rose 0.1% to eke out its second consecutive record close, its 16th of 2021, while the Dow
DJIA,
-0.21%
edged down 71.34 points, or 0.2% and the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.11%
fell 0.1%.

What’s driving the market?

Members of a bipartisan group holding talks on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure proposal said they had agreed to a framework for a package, with plans to meet with President Joe Biden on Thursday to finalize the deal.

Stocks were buoyed on Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized that the central bank still expected to see inflation pressures to prove transitory. Analysts said some steam came out of the market in Wednesday’s session after Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he pulled forward “my projection for our first move to late 2022,” following a similar comment on interest rates last week from St. Louis Reserve President James Bullard.

Data on first-time applications for unemployment benefits in the week ended June 19 is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists expect the number of initial claims to fall to 380,000 from 412,000 in the previous week.

At the same time, May durable-goods orders are expected to show a 2.6% rise after a fall of 1.3% in April. Investors will also get a look at the advance report on May trade in goods and a revised reading on first-quarter gross domestic product. Economists look for GDP growth to be left unchanged at an annualized rate of 6.4%.

A softer-than-expected GDP figure “could dampen the investor mood, as investors know that the Fed can’t do much about a slower growth before getting inflation under control,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, in a note.

Several Fed officials are also slated to speak over the course of the day, including Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, New York Fed President John Williams and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.

Which companies are in focus?

• Rite Aid Corp.
  RAD,
  +2.61%
  shares fell nearly 7% in premarket trade, after the drugstore chain on Thursday beat fiscal first-quarter profit expectations but came up short on revenue, amid weakness in the pharmacy services business, while also providing a mixed full-year outlook. 

• Darden Restaurants Inc.
  DRI,
  -0.11%
  on Thursday said it turned a profit for the fiscal fourth quarter as same-restaurant sales, or those at restaurants open 16 months or longer, rose 90.4%, nearing pre-pandemic levels. The company added 30 net new restaurants during the period. Darden shares were down 0.3%.

• Shares of Accenture PLC
  ACN,
  +0.01%
  rose more than 4%, after the management consulting company on Thursday reported fiscal third-quarter profit and revenue that beat expectations. Accenture also raised its full-year outlook, citing demand for digital transformation.

• FedEx Corp.
  FDX,
  -0.11%
  suspended about 1,400 customers of its Freight shipping service earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, a move that surprised customers and was aimed at easing a congested network taxed by relentless package volume. Service to some customers was resumed this week. Shares were up 0.9%.