S&P 500 Index
- By date
- Metadoro first
Wall Street S&P 500 broad barometer not only managed to break a four-week losing streak last Friday, but also climbed above 5,725 points for the in the pre-market trading on March 24. The backsliding of stock indicators into positive territory has been slow, but it may have been helped by comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve's chair Jerome Powell as he characterised any possible inflationary effects induced by Trump's trade tariffs policy as being "transitory". Besides, some leaks to the media, quoted by Bloomberg News and Wall Street Journal on the weekend, suggested that Trump’s widely expected April 2 "reciprocal" tariffs announcement could be more targeted than he has initially threatened to expand indiscriminately on both friends and foes. Now a less aggressive approach may reportedly exclude some nations or blocs, as well as specific sectors. In particular, those countries who did not impose extra tariffs on the U.S. recently may be exempted from the levies, under condition if the U.S. has a trade surplus with these countries.
However, further upward developments in the market may still be limited by the technical resistance range between 5,800 and 5,850, at least until the end of the month or by only a partial recovery of most heavily oversold and popular tech companies due to unfavourable corporate reports from a trio of heavyweight issuers.
Shares of FedEx (FDX) plummeted by 6.5% last Friday, after the parcel delivery giant substantially cut its annual guidance. Moreover, the stock price decline initially was double-digit and touched the lower values of June 2023. FedEx dropped its adjusted EPS (earnings per share) projections for 2025 to between $18.00 and $18.60, from $19 to $20 previously. The company cited "continued weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy", so that its "higher-margin business-to-business volumes" have to navigate a "challenging operating environment". Both FedEx and its rival UPS are commonly watched as the pH strips for the chemistry of the global economy, as they are fundamentally involved into a great variety of industries.
Meanwhile, Micron Technology (MU) lost 8% of its market cap the same Friday evening, even though this AI-related provider of memory and storage solutions forecasted its current quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates. The company nominally pointed at still solid demand for its HBM (high-bandwidth memory) chips. Even its robust financial performance of $1.56 per share to beat consensus of $1.44 in the recent three months, on revenue of $8.05 billion against the anticipated $7.91 billion, didn't help Micron stock to rise after its gross margin projections suggested a decrease.
The same day, shares of the footwear giant Nike (NKE) slid to fresh 5-year lows as its inner sales decline expectations almost deleted hopes on its business results' turnaround. The company went that far to warn that its international sales may drop by a double digit percentage in the current quarter due to a cocktail of factors consisting of new tariffs and lower consumer confidence.
If the sharp decline in shares of FedEx and Nike is happening not the first or even not the second time in the recent couple of years, then shares of Micron, which is one of the technology partners in the NVIDIA chain, were flat for the eighth month in a row after a strong correction move last summer, and so the market could well have reacted in a more favourable mood to rather nice quarterly figures from Micron. Leading investment houses like Piper Sandler or Stifel do not fully agree with the bearish assessments of its report by the investing crowd. Almost all analysts are holding Overweight ratings for Micron. However, the overall market sentiment continues to indicate its alertness to any minor weakness in corporate news.
Wall Street S&P 500 broad barometer not only managed to break a four-week losing streak last Friday, but also climbed above 5,725 points for the in the pre-market trading on March 24. The backsliding of stock indicators into positive territory has been slow, but it may have been helped by comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve's chair Jerome Powell as he characterised any possible inflationary effects induced by Trump's trade tariffs policy as being "transitory". Besides, some leaks to the media, quoted by Bloomberg News and Wall Street Journal on the weekend, suggested that Trump’s widely expected April 2 "reciprocal" tariffs announcement could be more targeted than he has initially threatened to expand indiscriminately on both friends and foes. Now a less aggressive approach may reportedly exclude some nations or blocs, as well as specific sectors. In particular, those countries who did not impose extra tariffs on the U.S. recently may be exempted from the levies, under condition if the U.S. has a trade surplus with these countries.
However, further upward developments in the market may still be limited by the technical resistance range between 5,800 and 5,850, at least until the end of the month or by only a partial recovery of most heavily oversold and popular tech companies due to unfavourable corporate reports from a trio of heavyweight stocks.
Shares of FedEx (FDX) plummeted by 6.5% last Friday, after the parcel delivery giant substantially cut its annual guidance. Moreover, the stock price decline initially was double-digit and touched the lower values of June 2023. FedEx dropped its adjusted EPS (earnings per share) projections for 2025 to between $18.00 and $18.60, from $19 to $20 previously. The company cited "continued weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy", so that its "higher-margin business-to-business volumes" have to navigate a "challenging operating environment". Both FedEx and its rival UPS are commonly watched as the pH strips for the chemistry of the global economy, as they are fundamentally involved into a great variety of industries.
Meanwhile, Micron Technology (MU) lost 8% of its market cap the same Friday evening, even though this AI-related provider of memory and storage solutions forecasted its current quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates. The company nominally pointed at still solid demand for its HBM (high-bandwidth memory) chips. Even its robust financial performance of $1.56 per share to beat consensus of $1.44 in the recent three months, on revenue of $8.05 billion against the anticipated $7.91 billion, didn't help Micron stock to rise after its gross margin projections suggested a decrease.
The same day, shares of the footwear giant Nike (NKE) slid to fresh 5-year lows as its inner sales decline expectations almost deleted hopes on its business results' turnaround. The company went that far to warn that its international sales may drop by a double digit percentage in the current quarter due to a cocktail of factors consisting of new tariffs and lower consumer confidence.
If the sharp decline in shares of FedEx and Nike is happening not the first or even not the second time in the recent couple of years, then shares of Micron, which is one of the technology partners in the NVIDIA chain, were flat for the eighth month in a row after a strong correction move last summer, and so the market could well have reacted in a more favourable mood to rather nice quarterly figures from Micron. Leading investment houses like Piper Sandler or Stifel do not fully agree with the bearish assessments of its report by the investing crowd. Almost all analysts are holding Overweight ratings for Micron. However, the overall market sentiment continues to indicate its alertness to any minor weakness in corporate news.
S&P 500 Index
As it is the most commonly used stock index it has some unique features a trader should keep in mind:
- The index represents the broad stock market performance since it lists companies from various sectors. It is not focused on specific industries or segments like the Dow Jones index family and the Nasdaq index. So, it is often called a “barometer of American economy;
- There are different sectors inside the index, which represent companies from familiar and particular sectors. According to numbers released on May 31, 2023 the smallest sector by market cap is Materials with a share of 2.4% (all numbers are given as of May 31, 2023), while the largest is Information technology with 28% of the index market cap. The index also lists companies from healthcare, financials, consumer discretionary, communication services, industrials, consumer staples, energy, utilities, and real estate. A sector breakdown allows investors to distinguish the best performing sectors and select the best performing stocks inside the sector. It also allows for the evaluation of economic performance of the United States in General and for a look at what is driving the American economy;
- The index is very sensitive to macroeconomic data, and positively reacts to rising GDP, retail sales, investments, and the phase in which houses are being built. Any negative news in these areas may push the index down. Macroeconomic data may have a sustainable effect on the index as declining GDP will put sustainable pressure on it, and vice versa;
- The index is very sensitive to the monetary policy decisions of the Federal Reserve (Fed). Rising interest rates and increasing borrowing costs result in less money in the economy and this leads to lower corporate margins, lower consumer and investment demand, and eventually to lower investments in stocks. So, the Fed’s hawkish stance usually results in a weaker S&P 500 index. A dovish monetary policy by the Fed usually supports the index. Thus, the Fed’s interest rate actions, testimonies of its head and FOMC voting members should be monitored;
- The Consumer Price Index (PCI) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) data, which represent inflation, affect the index. If the numbers are far from the Fed’s target, which is set at 2%, it may signal to the possibility that the Fed may continue with its hawkish stance, meaning pressure on the S&P 500 index. Any increase of inflation means the pressure will rise. If inflation slows down to below the 2% target, it is likely to push the index up;
- The S&P 500 index is a risky asset as it represents the sentiment in the market, and the appetite for risk. A rising appetite for risk supports the index, while uncertainty, which lowers economy and geopolitical risks, put pressure on it;
- The index has a negative correlation with the USD/JPY as the Japanese Yen is regularly used for carry trading. So, a deteriorating Yen may signal to a decline of the index;
- The S&P 500 is a very popular asset for investments. An individual may invest in S&P futures, CFD’s of ETF’s that are linked to the index. This is a very diversified asset, and is suitable for conservative investors as it has lower volatility than any of its components, or even currencies or commodities. Thus, the index may serve as a hedge asset inside an investment portfolio;
- The index is linked to the U.S. stock market’s opening hours, but futures and CFD trading on the index continues mostly throughout 24/5, excluding weekends. So, the index may open with a gap if something very important has happened during a weekend.
| Ticker | US500 |
| Contract value | 10 USD x US500 Index |
| Maximum leverage | 1:100 |
| Date | Short Swap (%) | Long Swap (%) | No data |
|---|
| Minimum transaction volume | 0.01 lot |
| Maximum transaction volume | 100 lots |
| Hedging margin | 50% |
| USD Exposure | Max Leverage Applied | Floating Margin |
|---|
