Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on February 14, 2023 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Stocks futures rose slightly in overnight trading as investors braced for the final trading day of February.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30 points, or 0.10%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.12% each.
Zoom Video surged nearly 8% in overnight trading on strong earnings, while Occidental Petroleum‘s stock fell 1% after posting a top-and-bottom line miss.
The overnight moves followed an up session for all the major averages as Treasury yields eased. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 72.17 points or 0.22%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.31% and 0.63%, respectively.
Tuesday marks the final trading day of February. Despite a solid start to the year, all the major indexes are on pace for their second negative month in three. As of Monday’s close, the Dow is down 3.5% for the month and the only major index negative for the year. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are positive in 2023, but down 2.3% and 1%, respectively, in February.
February “will go down in history as the month where the market pulled back to digest a very strong rally you saw at the end of December into most of January,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments. “This is a pullback month, it’s a rest month, and that’s good as long as support is defended and support holds, which is last week’s low.”
More retail earnings reports offering clues into the health of the consumer are slated for Tuesday, including results from Target, AutoZone, Rivian Automotive, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and AMC Entertainment.
On the economic front, investors also await consumer confidence data, wholesale inventories, Chicago PMI and the S&P Case-Shiller home prices index.
