Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 20, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Stock futures were slightly lower Monday morning ahead of March’s last—and shortened—trading week.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged lower by 63 points, or 0.16%. S&P futures and Nasdaq 100 futures lost nearly 0.1%.
The market is on track for its fifth consecutive month of gains, with the major U.S. stock benchmarks crossing new all-time closing high levels last week. The S&P 500 added roughly 2.3% last week, while the Dow gained just under 2% for its best week since December, nearing the 40,000 level. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, jumped about 2.9% during the period.
These gains were fueled by the Federal Reserve’s latest remarks that maintained central bankers’ rate-cutting timeline for this year, as well as investors’ ongoing enthusiasm for tech stocks amid the AI-powered rally. Overall investor sentiment remains above its historical average, according to the latest weekly American Association of Individual Investors Sentiment Survey, reflecting persistent market optimism. Still, some investors fear the potential impact of an overextended rally and higher-for-longer interest rates.
“Examining Fed rate cycles since the 1970s has revealed that, generally speaking, investors have more to fear from the first rate cut in a cycle than the pause, the period in which the central bank stops tightening and has yet to ease,” Strategas Securities analyst Ryan Grabinksi wrote in a Friday note.
This week, investors will gain further insight about the path of inflation from the February personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, released Friday morning. The market’s reaction will be determined on the following Monday given the Good Friday holiday.
