Stock Market Bulls Take a Breather After Record Run

Stocks finished last week with the bulls in charge after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both finished at all-time highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq bucked the upward trend and fell slightly.

For the week, all three of the major stock market indices finished in the green. Investors were feeling confident amid an employment report that showed the economic recovery is humming along.

The July labor market report showed that 943K jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month, which was more than economists had predicted. The unemployment rate now hovers at 5.4% vs. estimates of 5.7%.

As the economy grows stronger, policymakers could decide to step back from their bond-buying activity. As long as investors are focused on corporate America’s robust profits, however, the markets have been in the clear.

Stock index futures are taking a breather on Sunday evening ahead of Monday’s open with a downward slant. Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to debate the infrastructure bill on Capitol Hill.

Stocks to Watch

Meme stock AMC Entertainment is poised to release its Q2 earnings results on Monday. AMC shares have been trading cautiously so far in August. The company’s management team will be fielding questions from individual investors on the earnings call. Investors will have to wait until after the market closes for AMC’s results.

BioNTech, the company that is behind one of the COVID-19 vaccines with partner Pfizer, will also report its quarterly results on Monday.

Gaming stock Zynga fell more than 18% on Friday. The company, which is behind the FarmVille brand, suffered an exodus of gamers in Q2 amid the reopening of the economy as consumers venture out more. TakeTwo Interactive and Activision Blizzard spotted similar behaviors.

Shares of commission-free trading app Robinhood advanced 8% on Friday to USD 55 per share, well above the USD 38 IPO price. While Robinhood does not have meme-stock status, investors are bracing for it to continue trading like one for a while.

Look Ahead

On the economic front, investors will be looking ahead to Wednesday when the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July will be released. On Friday, investors will further be able to gauge consumer confidence when the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment data comes out.