EBC Markets Briefing | US equities look ahead to golden July

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite finished a shade lower on Thursday ahead of a key labour market report, retreating from highs reached in the previous session.

Those two indexes hit record closing highs on Wednesday, powered mainly by technology stocks as markets digested economic data that could support a start to the Fed's policy easing cycle.

A report on Tuesday showed job openings fell in April to the fewest in more than three years. The May private payrolls report on Wednesday was the latest data to suggest an easing in labour market tightness.

Nvidia rallied to record highs earlier this week, with the AI chipmaker's valuation breaching the $3 trillion mark and overtaking Apple to become the world's second most valuable company.

Analysts' projections for Nvidia's future earnings have outpaced its stellar stock gains. Nvidia is trading at 39 times expected earnings, making it less expensive on that basis than a year ago, LSEG data showed.

A flood of cash from passive equity allocations will pour into the stock market in early July, setting up a continuing rally through the early summer, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s trading desk.

The Wall St bank said that share prices will benefit from strong seasonal trends coming from retail investors. Historically, the first 15 days of July were the best two-week trading period of the year for equities.

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