Wall Street Eyes Positive June Start, GameStop Skyrockets On Renewed Meme Rally: Optimistic Analyst Sees Stocks Defying Historical 'June Swoon'
Wall Street is eyeing a strong start to the week, with mega-cap tech stocks and the resumption of the meme rally likely providing the thrust the market needs to break out of the lackluster phase seen in late May. The meme stock rally set in motion by Roaring Kitty’s disclosure of a huge GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) stake could lend support to the small-cap space, while the Computex 2024 presentation in Taiwan will likely buoy the tech space. A couple of manufacturing activity data due for the day could also be on traders’ radar.
| Futures | Performance (+/-) |
| Nasdaq 100 | +0.41% |
| S&P 500 | +0.23% |
| Dow | +0.01% |
| R2K | +0.95% |
In premarket trading on Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) rose 0.14% to $528.12, and the Invesco QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) traded up 0.58% at $453.32, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Previous Week:
Concerns about growth and the Fed funds rate trajectory as well as poor reception to Treasury bond options sapped risk appetite in the holiday-shortened week ended May 31, with all three major averages recording losses for the week. A tamer-than-expected inflation data released on Friday helped the broader market trim its weekly losses.
Tech stocks led the week’s sell-off, with the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 Index snapping a five-week winning streak.
Despite the week’s lackluster performance, the major indices were solidly higher for the month.
| Index | Week’s Performance (+/-) | May Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | -1.10% | +6.88% | 16,735.02 |
| S&P 500 Index | -0.51% | +4.80% | 5,277.51 |
| Dow Industrials | -0.98% | +2.30% | 38,686.32 |
| Russell 2000 | +0.02% | +4.88% | 2,070.13 |
Insights From Analysts:
Carson Group‘s Chief Investment Strategist Ryan Detrick does not see a setback for the market in June after a fairly resilient May. “June historically isn't a very good month for stocks, with the old saying ‘June Swoon' quite common,” he noted.
However, the strategist said this time it could be different as June tends to do quite well in election years. He also noted that when a president is in their first term the second half of the year does quite well, compared with a lame-duck president.
Upcoming Economic Data:
The week’s economic calendar is heavily loaded with job market reports, the chief among them being the non-farm payrolls report for May due on Friday. Traders may also keep an eye on ADP’s private payrolls report due on Wednesday, the customary weekly jobless claims data, the final first-quarter productivity and costs report and the results of the April Job Openings And Labor Turnover survey.
A few private-sector activity readings for May, the April factory goods orders report and the April trade balance data are also on tap.
On Monday, S&P Global will release its final manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for May at 9:45 a.m. EDT. The flash reading released mid-May showed an increase in the index from 50 in April to 50.9 in May.
The Institute for Supply Management will release its manufacturing PMI at 10 a.m. EDT, with the index likely improving from 49.2 in April to 49.8 in May. A reading below ’50’ suggests a contraction in activity.
The Commerce Department’s construction spending report, due at 10 a.m. EDT, is expected to show a 0.2% month-over-month increase in April, reversing March’s 0.2% drop.
The Treasury will auction three- and six-month bills at 11:30 a.m. EDT.
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Stocks In Focus:
- GameStop climbed about 75% in premarket trading after Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, revealed a huge position in the company. Fellow meme stock AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AMC) climbed about 27.5%.
- Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose about 3% following Jensen Huang’s keynote address in Computex 2024.
- Science Applications International Corporation (NASDAQ:SAIC) and GitLab Inc. (NASDAQ:GTLB) are among the companies due to announce their quarterly results.
Commodities, Bonds And Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures fell modestly, while gold futures edged up. The U.S. 10-year Treasury note yielded 4.473%, down 3.9 points. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) firmed up and was approaching the $69K level.
Most Asian markets advanced on Monday, although the Chinese market ended modestly lower. The positive sentiment reflected traders factoring in Fed rate cuts following Friday’s U.S. inflation data. The Indian market rallied in reaction to exit poll results that showed the incumbent party retaining power. European stocks firmed up in early trading.
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