Wednesday September 15, 2021

// September 15th, 2021 // Daily News

MARKETS

Dow futures are flat as markets fight the September doldrums

correction is coming, says Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat Wednesday after the blue chip index dropped nearly 300 points on Tuesday, the latest in a string of negative trading sessions this September.

Dow futures traded near the flatline. S&P 500 futures traded ticked up 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures inched 0.2% higher.

U.S. stock futures bounced overnight, but turned negative Wednesday morning. Then, some bullish economic news released before the bell Wednesday helped stabilize markets a bit.

The NY Fed’s Empire Index, a measure of manufacturing in the region came in at 34.3 for September, way ahead of the 18 consensus estimate from FactSet and an acceleration from August.

Markets have been in a funk so far this month amid rising investor worries about the delta variant derailing the economic recovery, along with hand-wringing over the next action by the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 closed Tuesday at the lowest since Aug. 20. Tuesday marked the fifth straight day of losses for the Nasdaq. The Dow, S&P 500 and the small-cap Russell 2000 index have been in the red for six of the last seven days.

“Despite concerns about the recent downshift in economic and business cycle momentum, we remain confident that strong growth lies ahead and activity is bound to re-accelerate,” wrote JPMorgan strategist Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, in a note Wednesday. “We remain positive on the equity outlook, and expect S&P 500 to reach 4,700 by end of this year and surpass 5,000 next year on better than expected earnings.”