Stock index futures inch higher following a losing day Monday

Stock futures rose slightly in overnight trading Monday following a losing day as investors prepare to rebalance their portfolios with the end of the quarter fast approaching.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36 points. S&P 500 futures edged up 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.3%.

The overnight action followed modest losses on Wall Street as a comeback rally stalled. The blue-chip Dow fell about 60 points, while the broader benchmark, the S&P 500, dipped 0.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.7%. The major averages rallied last week, posting their first positive week since May.

“Market bulls who have had the rug repeatedly pulled out from under them this year may understandably be suspect of the rally, since many of 2022’s upswings have quickly given way to fresh lows and this time may be no different,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading at E-Trade.

Investors will monitor more data on Tuesday including June consumer confidence and April home prices to gauge the health of the economy. Fears of a recession have increased lately as the Federal Reserve tries to combat surging inflation with aggressive rate hikes.

Shares of Nike edged higher in post-market trading after the sportswear company topped Wall Street’s earnings and sales expectations for the fiscal fourth-quarter despite a Covid lockdown in China and a tougher climate for consumers in the U.S.

Several major banks raised their dividends in response to successfully clearing this year’s Federal Reserve stress tests, including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. JPMorgan and Citigroup, however, said increasingly stringent capital requirements forced them to keep their dividends unchanged.

Despite last week’s bounce, the S&P 500 is down nearly 14% in the second quarter, on track to post its worst quarter since the first quarter of 2020, at the depth of the pandemic.

“The bounce from the bear market lows is a welcome change, though slowing economic growth and lack of capitulation among investors has many skeptical of the durability of the recovery,” said Mark Hackett, Nationwide’s chief of investment research.