4:05pm: Wall Street stages comeback
Stocks made gains late on Friday, ending a volatile week for equities on a high note.
At the close, the Nasdaq had added 0.5% at 16,745 points, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% at 5,344 points and the Dow Jones was up 0.1% at 39,497 points.
12:05pm: Stocks little changed
US stocks traded modestly lower at noon in a relatively calm session to end a volatile week.
The Dow Jones was 0.2% lower at 39,389 points, the Nasdaq shed 0.1% at 16,640 points and the S&P 500 was flat at 5,320 points.
Major movers included Canopy Growth, which slipped 9% as it reported a widening loss and revenue miss for the fiscal first quarter.
Video game firms Unity and Take-Two Interactive added 8% and 3%, respectively, on positive quarterly reports.
11:15am: Space stocks boosted
Rocket Lab USA Inc (NASDAQ:RKLB) shares surged as the leader in launch services and space systems impressed investors with its second quarter results, adding 13% at $5.24 in early trade on Friday.
The company’s positive results also buoyed other space sector stocks, with Redwire adding 15.6%, Momentus up 14.1%, Terran Orbital up 3.9%, and Intuitive Machines adding 2.2%.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2024, Rocket Lab posted record revenue of $106 million, a 71% increase from the year-ago quarter.
9:34am: US stocks open slightly lower
Wall Street has dropped slightly lower at the start of trading, but investors will be happy to see slightly less volatility across the key indexes when compared to earlier this week.
The Nasdaq was down 0.1% or 21 points at 16,636, while the Dow Jones dropped 0.3% or 106 points to 39,339. The S&P 500 opened flat at 5,315.
"Sentiment has become more positive following a strong tech-led rally yesterday which brought significant gains for all the US majors," said David Morrison at Trade Nation.
"So, the question is how the market now behaves going into the weekend? It’s certainly been a positive start.
Morrison noted that next week's release of two sets of inflation data will be important to how the market performs.
He added: "Should the CPI continue to show downside progress towards the Fed’s 2% target, then that should help support equities on the increased probability of a 50 basis point cut at the next monetary policy meeting in September."
8:33am: Wall Street to edge lower
US stocks are on track to open slightly lower later today, in what could be a slightly more relaxed day of trading compared to earlier this week.
However, it might not be calm for long if Terry Sandven at U.S. Bank Wealth Management is correct.
"Near-term, heightened levels of volatility are likely to be more the norm versus the exception, as broad-market valuations remain elevated and seasonality trends suggest tempered returns during the ‘dog days of summer," the chief equity strategist said.
Paramount and Expedia are to make some of the largest moves when the market opens, with the two up 5% and 9%, respectively.
According to premarket futures, the Nasdaq is set to open around 50 points lower, the S&P 500 down 4 points, while the Dow Jones is forecast to flatline.