traders on the floor of the nyse may 17 2022 us stock futures moved modestly higher on tuesday evening as investors looked to build on a solid rally futures for the dow jones industrial average added 49 points or about 02 sp 500 futures ticked up 02 while nasdaq 100 futures pushed 01 higher the move in futures came as the stock markets recent selloff appeared to have paused on tuesday the dow rose 431 points or 13 while the sp 500 gained 2 and the nasdaq composite climbed nearly 28 the dow has declined for seven straight weeks but stocks have stabilized over the last three trading sessions last week the sp 500 fell to the brink of a bear market or 20 below its record high but the index has now gained 4 since thursdays close stocks and other risk assets have been pressured by inflation and the federal reserves attempt to tamp down price increases through rate hikes which has led to concerns about a potential recession fed chair jerome powell said at a wall street journal conference on tuesday that there wont be any hesitation about raising rates until inflation is under control however some recent economic data including the jobs report and retail sales data from april still show the us economy growing theres a big difference between corrections in the equity markets and outright bear markets said matt stucky a senior portfolio manager at northwestern mutual wealth management the difference being bear markets are almost always sort of associated with some kind of recessionary macroeconomic environment or at least an inevitable one in the forecast horizon over the next sixto12 months for us as we sit here today we just dont see that a busy week of retail earnings continues on wednesday with target and lowes reporting results before the opening bell investors will also get an updated look at the housing market with data for housing starts and building permits for april due out friday morning