US Stock Futures Flattish Ahead Of The Consumer Confidence Report

US stock futures were flat today after yesterday’s big rally, as investors awaited retail sales and consumer sentiment data. The S&P 500 benchmark was on track for its best weekly performance in a month.

Futures on the S&P 500 were even at 1079.50 and the Nasdaq 100 futures jumped a quarter point to 1821.20. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 3 points.

Various economic reports are in the pipeline to be released today and investors are searching for signs of bettering US consumer health. May retail sales data will be announced by the US Commerce Department and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary June consumer sentiment index will also be out today. April Business Inventories report is also due to be issued by the Commerce Department. Economists forecast that retail sales will grow by 0.2%, as compared to the previous month’s 0.4% growth; consumer sentiment reading will be 74.5, versus May’s 73.6, and inventories will rise by 0.5%, as opposed to the prior month’s 0.4%.

Director of equity research, Barry Ritholtz, at Fusion IQ in New York, said, "When we look at what is going on, it's hard to draw any conclusions other than things are getting very slowly better. (But) we have to get a little bit cautious about drawing long-term conclusions from short-term seasonal situations."

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