September S&P 500 futures (ESU23) are up +0.05%, and September Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQU23) are down -0.07% this morning after three major U.S. benchmark indices closed higher on Thursday as economic data provided more evidence that inflationary pressures were subsiding, while market participants braced for earnings from big U.S. banks.
In Thursday’s trading session, the benchmark S&P 500 climbed to a 15-month high, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 posted a 1-1/2 year high. Alphabet (GOOGL) gained over +4% after the company launched its artificial intelligence chatbot Bard in Europe and Brazil and said the tool can be interacted with in more than 40 languages. Also, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) rose more than +2% after saying its Prime Day shopping event set a sales record. In addition, regional bank stocks advanced, with KeyCorp (KEY) climbing over +3% and Zions Bancorporation (ZION) rising more than +2%. On the bearish side, Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) fell over -1% after the oil major agreed to acquire Denbury (DEN) in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.9B.
