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Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Rise Despite Powell's Cautious Take On Stocks—Micron Tech, Cintas, KB Home In Focus - SPDR S&P 500 (ARCA:SPY)
CintasCintas(US:CTAS) Benzinga·2025-09-24 09:45

Market Overview - U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday after declines on Tuesday, with major benchmark indices showing positive futures [1] - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted that equity prices are "fairly highly valued" but downplayed immediate financial stability risks [1] - Investors are anticipating the release of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the PCE Index, scheduled for Friday [2] Economic Indicators - The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.10%, while the two-year bond was at 3.56% [2] - The S&P Global U.S. Composite PMI slowed to 53.6 in September, indicating softer growth [4] - The U.S. current account deficit shrank by 42.9% to $251.3 billion in Q2 [4] Sector Performance - Energy, real estate, and utilities stocks led gains on Tuesday, while information technology and consumer discretionary stocks declined [3] - The Dow Jones index fell by 89 points (0.19%), S&P 500 dropped 0.55%, and Nasdaq Composite decreased by 0.95% [5][6] Company-Specific Movements - Nvidia Corp. shares fell 2.8% after announcing a $100 billion investment in OpenAI [4] - Cintas Corp. is expected to report earnings of $1.19 per share on revenue of $2.70 million [15] - Micron Technology Inc. rose 1.86% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and a strong revenue forecast [15] - Ares Acquisition Corporation II jumped 4.39% following successful fundraising for a merger with Kodiak Robotics [15] Investment Insights - BlackRock advises clients to seek "granular opportunities" in Europe while maintaining an overweight position on U.S. equities [8] - The report highlights financials, industrials, and utilities as outperforming sectors in Europe, with financials achieving a 32% year-to-date return [9][10] - BlackRock sees value in European fixed income, particularly when currency is hedged, potentially pushing yields on euro investment-grade credit to near 6% for U.S. investors [11]