U.S. stock futures were slightly higher on Thursday morning as investors the market attempted to keep climbing its way out of a bear market.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures inched up by 100 points, or 0.32%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.31% and 0.35%, respectively. The S&P 500 on Wednesday posted its first 3-day winning streak since late May. The benchmark is on pace for its second positive week in 3 and now sits about 20% off its record high.
Investor sentiment was helped by shares of GameStop, which popped 9% in premarket trading after the video game retailer said a 4-for-1 stock split was approved by its board. Shareholders at the market close on July 18 will get a dividend of three additional shares for each of GameStop’s Class A common stock, the retailer said. The dividend will be distributed after trading closes on July 21.
Chipmakers were higher in premarket trading after South Korea’s Samsung posted an 11% jump in profit and 21% surge in revenue for the latest period on strong sales of memory chips. Shares of Micron, AMD and Nvidia were all higher in premarket trading by more than 1%.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 posted its third straight day of gains following the release of the June meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve. The broader market index added nearly 0.4%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained more than 69 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite rose close to 0.4%.
Central bank officials reiterated a tough stance against inflation, saying another 50- or 75-basis point move would “likely be appropriate” at the July 26-27 meeting.
Still, many investors found it challenging to trust those gains as recession concerns continue to loom on Wall Street, and as market participants looked ahead to what many expect will be a volatile earnings season this month.
“Everybody is both emotionally and sort of market level exhausted,” Alli McCartney, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management, said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “So, I think we still have a summer of watching for what the Fed does, watching for what happens in international policy, watching for the directionality of CPI.”
On the economic front, traders will parse through the latest reports on weekly jobless claims and international trade that are due out Thursday before the bell.
Meanwhile, Levi Strauss is set to report earnings Thursday after the bell.
The three major averages ended Wednesday’s session higher after the release of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting minutes.