Opening Comment — Friday, February 21, 2025
DJIA: 44,176.65, down 450.94
S&P 500: 6,117.52, down 26.63
NASDAQ: 19,962.36, down 93.89
Stocks mixed ahead of PMI data
Stock futures are mixed Friday morning as investors are looking forward to February’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data, along with finalized consumer sentiment and January’s existing home sales. As of 7:23 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.3%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.1%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.3% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were lower on Thursday as a measure of manufacturing activity from the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of Philadelphia fell less than expected and both initial jobless claims and continuing claims ticked up. The Dow was down 1.0%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5%. The S&P 500 decreased 0.4% with seven of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Energy sector was the top performer, rising 1.0%, while the Financials sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.6%.
On the data front, the preliminary reading of S&P Global’s composite PMI for February is expected to come in at 53.2 versus the prior month’s 52.7, with the manufacturing and services PMIs forecasted at 51.4 and 53.0, respectively, compared to the prior month’s 51.2 and 52.9, respectively. The finalized February reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan is expected to come in at 67.8, similar to prior reading, while one-year and 5-10-year inflation expectations are projected to come in at 4.3% and 3.3%, unchanged from the prior readings. Existing home sales are forecasted to have been at an annualized 4.13 million pace in January versus the prior month’s 4.24 million pace, corresponding to a decline of 2.6% versus the prior month’s increase of 2.2%.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as the eurozone’s preliminary February services PMI fell and the bloc’s manufacturing PMI rose. For the U.K., the preliminary February services PMI rose as the manufacturing PMI fell, while the country’s retail sales rose more than expected in January.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly higher following Japan’s Consumer Price Index rising in January on both a headline and core basis. The country’s preliminary February manufacturing and services PMIs rose slightly.
In FOREX trading, the dollar is higher ahead of today’s U.S. PMI data release.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.9% lower at $71.80/barrel as refinery maintenance during the season resulted in reduced processing.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.3% lower at $2,932.50/ounce following a strengthening dollar.