From the Wall Street Journal’s “Stock Futures Tick Higher Ahead of Retail Sales Data” posted early Tuesday:
U.S. stock futures edged higher Tuesday ahead of fresh data that will indicate how much Americans spent in stores, at restaurants and online last month.
Investors expect that stocks will climb through the rest of the year due to easy monetary policies. Many people are also betting that higher inflation, due to the easing of economic restrictions and supply-chain bottlenecks, will be temporary. Signs that inflation will be elevated for a prolonged period or that the Federal Reserve may retrace its supportcould shake that confidence, money managers said.
“Investors seem a bit more convinced the Fed will do what it says it is going to do and stay put,” said Edward Smith, head of asset allocation research at U.K. investment firm Rathbone Investment Management. “That should mean we have relatively easy financial conditions and that should be good for equity markets.”
Data on Americans’ retail spending last month are due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect retail sales to have fallen as auto sales declined, fiscal support for consumers faded and Americans shifted their spending toward services and away from goods.
My take: Monday was a tough act to follow.
I’m actually fairly pleased with the overall progress of the stock. I see a bunch of nervous selling, but in general folks seem to feel it’s worthwhile giving the stock the benefit of the doubt, and maybe even playing this as a good long haul investment – which it is, IMHO.
On a yearly basis AAPL is basically following along with the S&P 500, which is trending up.