Stock futures were slightly lower on Friday as investors are choosing to be cautious due to a resurgent Covid-19 virus, a Central Bank Fed Reserve’s meeting in the coming week, and a historical tendency of September month to be weaker for equities.
Dow futures were lower by 22 points. S&P 500 futures were slightly lower by 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures also were lower by 0.1%.
“History is not on the market’s side with the S&P 500 averaging a 0.4% decline for September, the worst of any month,” suggests the reports by the Stock Trader’s Almanac.
Some of the uncertainty that comes during the month of September is mostly due to so-called quadruple witching.
Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist for Leuthold Group said, “The economy is widely thought to be slowing under the weight of the Delta variant. Combined with a bad historic September stock market seasonality and ongoing fears of inflation, has caused investors to recently turn cautious. With economic growth unexpectedly reviving again, investors are questioning whether they have been too cautious keeping a bid under the overall stock market.”