Stock futures rise slightly after the S&P 500 closes at new high

U.S. stock futures were flat early Friday morning after the S&P 500 hit a new high during regular trading, despite hotter-than-expected inflation data.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 74 points while S&P 500 futures added 0.1%. Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.1%.

There were not many big movers in premarket trading. Some of the meme stocks were rebounding after a rough day on Thursday. AMC shares were up 3% and GameStop was up 7% in the premarket. Those two suffered double digit percent losses on Thursday as momentum in the Reddit favorites faded.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points, or 0.06% to 34,466.24. The S&P 500 ended the day up 0.47% at 4,239.18, touching a new intraday high and posting a record close. The benchmark had traded sideways for about a month since hitting its last record on May 7. The Nasdaq Composite ended the day up 0.78% at 14,020.33.

The gains came even as a report showed inflation rising at its fastest pace since 2008 as the economy rebounds from the pandemic-related recession. The Consumer Price Index represents a basket including food, energy, groceries and prices across a spectrum of goods, and jumped 5% in May from a year earlier.

Markets shrugged off the news, however. Perhaps giving a boost to stocks has been the reaction in the bond market to the hot inflation reports. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.44% on Friday, after trading above 1.77% earlier in the year.

“A significant degree of this inflation may prove transitory as nearly half of the above-average spike in inflation comes from the base effects of last year’s weakened economy and even supply shortages should prove transitory as companies increase productivity and begin to meet pent-up demand,” Jason Pride, CIO of private wealth at Glenmede.

Separately, initial jobless claims for the week ended June 5 came in at 376,000 — the lowest tally of the Covid pandemic — according to a separate report released Thursday.

For the week, major benchmarks are mixed. The Dow is off by 0.8%, but the S&P 500 is up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite is up 1.5%.