After a week of steep losses that ended on a high note, stock futures were higher Sunday evening.
The S&P 500 futures added 0.3% while the futures tied to the DOW Jones Industrial Average rose 78 points. The futures of the index jumped 0.6%.
The S&P 500 gained 2.39% on Friday, while the DOW rose 4.6%. The strongest one-day gain since November 2020 was posted by the Nasdaq. All three averages lost weeks.
The gains came as investors went into relief rally mode to cap off a bad week for stocks in which the S&P 500 nearly descended into bear market territory.
It remains to be seen how long the rally will last or how much further stocks have to fall before this year's downtrend bottoms.
The history of bear markets, coupled with the fact that the Fed has just begun its rate hike cycle and would like to see financial conditions continue to tighten so that demand pulls back further, will most likely weaken the rally.
Some investors and analysts say that the market's current lows are good buying opportunities.
"I'm not calling the bottom here, but there is some opportunity here to dollar cost average," said Sylvia Jablonski, CEO and chief investment officer at Defiance. It is the lesser evil to invest in asset classes that you believe in. The market will reset when selling fatigue ends. It is unlikely that the S&P will be in a correction six months to a year from now.
Walmart, Target, and Home Depot are some of the big box retailers that will report their first quarter results this week. Along with a few technology companies, Deere is also on deck.
Retail sales data this week could give investors insight into how retailers are managing inflation, which is near 40-year highs.
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