Dow Jones futures rose slightly early Friday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Investors will get a key inflation report and more economic data.
The stock market rally initially fell Thursday but the major indexes rebounded to mixed. The market is close to entering a power trend, signifying an especially strong uptrend. A power trend would not be a buy signal, but it's time to be especially invested and more willing to hold aggressive growth plays.
Booking Holdings, Walmart, LandBridge, Boston Scientific and Tesla rival BYD are right around buy points.
Boston Scientific stock is on IBD Leaderboard, with Doximity on the Leaderboard watchlist. Booking stock is on SwingTrader. LandBridge stock is on the IBD 50.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures climbed 0.35% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.3%.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.41%, extending Thursday's retreat.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, investors will get April housing starts data as well as import and export prices.
At 10 a.m. ET, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index will be released. The focus will be on inflation expectations, which have skyrocketed in recent months. President Donald Trump easing China tariffs may soon ease concerns, but tariffs remain very high. Walmart on Thursday predicted tariff-related price hikes by late May.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn't necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
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Key Earnings
Take-Two Interactive, Doximity, Cava Group and Applied Materials all fell overnight on earnings.
TTWO stock fell modestly, perhaps eyeing a drop back into a buy zone. Doximity stock, which had been near an aggressive entry, dived overnight.
Applied Materials stock fell solidly and Cava declined modestly. Both are well off highs.
Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally started lower, hit by a UnitedHealth government probe and negative earnings reactions. But as some of those earnings losers pared declines or turned higher, including Walmart, the major indexes improved as well.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6% in Thursday's stock market trading, back above the 200-day line. The S&P 500 index rose 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite dipped 0.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gained 0.5%.
The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF popped 0.9% after falling toward its 200-day line Wednesday.
The First Trust Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted Index ETF climbed 0.5%.
The Nasdaq is essentially in a power trend, but that can't start on a down day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 will be eligible for its own power trend with the next up session.
U.S. crude oil prices fell 2.4% to $61.62 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell 7.5 basis points to 4.45%, back below the 4.5% level it's traded at recently.
ETFs
Among growth ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF fell 0.3%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF dropped 0.4%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF declined 0.35%, with AMAT stock a notable holding.
ARK Innovation ETF fell 1.4% and ARK Genomics ETF climbed 0.4%. Tesla stock is the No. 1 holding across ARK Invest's ETFs. Cathie Wood's ARK also owns a small BYD stock stake.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF was just below break-even. The Energy Select SPDR ETF advanced 0.4%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund gained 1.35%. UnitedHealth is a major component with Boston Scientific stock a top-10 holding.
The Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund rose 1.1%.
The Financial Select SPDR ETF climbed 0.7%.
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Stocks Near Buy Points
Booking stock edged up 0.4% to 5,237.74, just below a 5,250 handle buy point on a five-month consolidation.
Walmart stock edged down 0.5% to 96.35 after tumbling to 91.89 shortly after the open. WMT stock closed above its 21-day moving average and above a 96.18 cup-with-handle buy point. The Dow Jones retailer beat Q1 earnings views early Thursday but missed sales by a fraction.
LandBridge stock rose 2.4% to 80.32, moving above what could be deemed a 79.47 handle buy point on a cup base. LB stock has hit resistance just above 80 and 84 a couple of times, with 84.21 being the cup-base buy point. LandBridge owns and leases acreage in the energy-rich Permian Basin, but is gearing up to be a data center play as well.
Boston Scientific stock climbed 1.9% to 104.86, back above a 104.35 double-bottom base buy point. Investors also could use 105.74 as a handle entry.
BYD stock edged up 0.5% to 53.65, a little higher above a 53.35 cup-with-handle buy point. The Chinese EV giant, the world's largest, boasts booming profit growth.
For its part, Tesla stock fell 1.4% to 342.82 on Thursday, ending a 26% gain over six sessions that pushed shares well above an aggressive entry around the 200-day line. While earnings are tumbling and deliveries faltering, investors are focusing on robotaxi bets and other moonshots.
What To Do Now
The stock market rally doesn't want to take a break, even though that would probably be constructive. Still, it's hard to fault a market that refuses to pull back, and only grudgingly pauses or slows its ascent.
A power trend may signify a time to be heavily or even fully invested, but many investors already are. It's a time to be a little more confident and aggressive, but not reckless.
If new buying opportunities present themselves, you can take advantage. Investors should look for laggards in their portfolio to make room for new buys or make add-on entries to winners.
It's definitely a time to build up watchlists.
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