Opening Comment — Friday, July 18, 2025
DJIA: 44,484.49, up 229.71
S&P 500: 6,297.36, up 33.66
NASDAQ: 20,885.65, up 155.16
Stocks little changed to end out week
Stock futures are little changed Friday morning. Investors are awaiting today’s economic releases, including the preliminary July reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan and housing market data for June. As of 7:16 AM ET, the Dow and the S&P 500 Index are both little changed. The Nasdaq 100 is also little changed relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were higher on Thursday as data showed retail sales rising more than forecasted in June. Import prices rose less than expected month-over-month (MOM) in June, while export prices rose more than expected MOM. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims ticked down and continuing claims came in lower than projected. The Dow was up 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8%. The S&P 500 increased 0.5% with nine of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Financials sector was the top performer, rising 0.9%, while the Health Care sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.2%.
Technical analysis
For the S&P 500, as of midday Thursday, the trend is still upward, with support at the 50-day moving average/200-day moving average (6014/5868, respectively). Resistance is hard to pinpoint with the market close to all-time highs, and we’ll just have to see where the index runs into exhaustion.
On the data front, housing starts are expected to have been an annualized 1.30 million in June versus the prior month’s 1.26 million, corresponding to a MOM increase of 3.5% versus the prior month’s decrease of 9.8%. The preliminary reading of June building permits is expected to come in at an annualized 1.387 million versus the prior month’s 1.394 million, corresponding to a MOM decrease of 0.5% versus the prior month’s decline of 2.0%. The University of Michigan’s preliminary July reading of consumer sentiment is forecasted to come in at 61.5, higher than the prior month’s 60.7. The one- and 5-10-year inflation expectations for July from the University of Michigan are expected to come in at 5.0% and 3.9%, respectively, compared to the prior month’s 5.0% and 4.0%, respectively.
Across the pond, European stocks are mostly higher in mid-day trading as Germany’s June Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.1% MOM and showed 1.3% deflation year-over-year (YOY), both in line with expectations.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed as Japan’s national June Consumer Price Index (CPI) decelerated to 3.3% YOY as anticipated on a headline basis, while the core reading unexpectedly accelerated to 3.4% YOY.
In FOREX trading, the dollar is lower ahead of next week’s European Central Bank meeting.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 1.0% higher at $68.18/barrel as markets evaluate newly imposed European Union sanctions on Russia.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.4% higher at $3,358.10/ounce following a weakening dollar.