Stocks were mixed Friday morning as investors digested a pairing between two of America’s biggest automakers and braced for the Federal Reserve’s next decision on rate hikes.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC), Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) all hovered near the flatline in midday trading on Friday.
The S&P 500 ended Thursday’s trading sessions up more than 20% from its October 2022 lows, officially marking the start of a bull market. The stock market rally to start 2023 comes as strong economic data continues to trump ongoing recession fears.
“I believe the worst is behind us,” Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets, who recently raised his S&P year-end price target from 4,300 to 4,550, told Yahoo. Finance Live. “The Fed, maybe, has another interest rate hike by the end of the year, and that’s OK, but I think most of that has already been priced into the market.”
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) and General Motors (GM) both traded higher at the market open after GM announced on Thursday that it is partnering with Tesla to take advantage of the world’s supercharging network. electric vehicle manufacturer. The announcement comes two weeks after Ford (F) announced a similar partnership with Tesla to allow Ford vehicles access to Tesla’s charging network.
“This collaboration is a key part of our strategy and an important next step in rapidly expanding access to fast chargers for our customers,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a press release.
Shares of Docusign (DOCU) were negative as the company beat analysts’ estimates for revenue and earnings per share in the latest quarter. Several Wall Street analysts reiterated the stock’s sell ratings.
“DocuSign attributed the outperformance to the renewal schedule, only moved part of the pace from the first quarter to the full-year guide, and appeared gloomy about the state of the demand backdrop,” wrote l. UBS analyst Karl Keirstead in a note to clients after the earnings release. .
Meanwhile, Netflix (NFLX) stock gained nearly 3% on Friday after new data from analytics platform Antenna showed US signups for the streaming service jumped the most. in at least four and a half years since the launch of the streamer’s password-sharing crackdown last month. .
On the economic front, Friday promises to be calm. Markets predicting the Fed’s next move are currently pricing in a 78% chance that the Federal Reserve will suspend its interest rate hike cycle at its meeting next week.
“The FOMC should take a break at its June meeting next week to clear up the vagueness before considering another rate hike,” wrote a team of Goldman Sachs economists led by Jan Hatzius in a note to clients. Thursday evening.
The economists added: “Fed leadership has signaled that it views the pause as the prudent course, as uncertainty about both the lagged effects of the rate hikes it has already delivered and the impact of ‘a crunch in bank credit increases the risk of an accidental over-tightening.’
Josh is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
Click here for the latest economic news and economic indicators to help you with your investment decisions
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance