Stock futures rise slightly, with the S&P 500 on the brink of falling into a bear market

cnbc.com:

U.S. stock futures rose slightly Thursday night, as traders watched to see if the S&P 500 will tumble into bear market territory.

S&P 500 futures traded 0.2% higher, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.4%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 55 points, or 0.2%.

Those moves came after another downbeat day on Wall Street. The Dow and Nasdaq, meanwhile, dipped 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and is now 18.6% below a record closing high set in early January. The index is also more than 19% below an intraday all-time high reach earlier this year. At those levels, the benchmark index is within a stone's throw of entering a bear market — defined by many on Wall Street as a 20% drop from a 52-week high.

Stocks have been under pressure this week — with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each losing more than 3% and the Dow falling 2.9% — as the latest quarterly figures from big-box retailers such as Walmart and Target raise concern about the health of the consumer and the ability for companies to deal with decades-high inflation. Target and Walmart are down sharply for the week after posting their quarterly results.

«While many cross-currents are causing the current sell-off, the proximate cause of the recent acceleration in the stock declines revolves around fears about the U.S. consumer,» Glenview Trust CIO Bill Stone wrote. «For the first time in the post-covid period, retailers have been stuck with some excess inventories. Costs due to inflation are also taking their toll on their earnings.»

«Lastly, there is evidence that the lower-end consumer is feeling the pinch from the increase in prices,» Stone said.

Ross Stores was the latest retailer to fall after posting earnings. The stock was down more