US OPEN: Wall Street opens higher, US500 tests record highs

• US indices launched today's trading higher

• US500 tests all-time high area

• Nike reaches fresh all-time high following fiscal Q4 2021 earnings

US indices launched the final trading session of the week with bullish price gaps. S&P 500 hit a fresh all-time high. While another acceleration in Fed's favourite inflation measure (PCE) could look to some as a threat of quicker policy tightening, markets seem to like the fact that it has "only" matched expectations rather than beating them as it was the case with CPI. 

Source: xStation5

S&P 500 index has reached a fresh all-time high at the start of today's cash session. However, S&P 500 futures (US500) traded slightly higher during the European morning trade on June 15. Nevertheless, US500 is within striking distance of its all-time high and there is a high chance that we will see a fresh intraday record on futures markets as well. The index is trading within an upward channel and in case of a break to fresh records, the upper limit of the channel will be the first resistance to watch (4,300 pts area). Note that it more or less coincides with the 127.2% exterior retracement of the latest correction at 4,305 pts.

Company News

Nike (NKE.US) reported results for fiscal Q4 2021, which ended on May 31, yesterday after the Wall Street session closed. Revenue increased to $12.34 billion, almost doubling from $6.31 billion a year ago. Market expected $11.01 billion. While this looks like a massive increase, it should be noted that fiscal Q4 2020 was heavily impacted by the arrival of coronavirus and related restrictions. E-commerce sales in fiscal Q4 2021 were 41% YoY higher and 147% higher than two years ago. Earnings per share were reported at $0.93, much higher than $0.51 expected. Net income stood at $1.5 billion. Company released an upbeat sales outlook for fiscal 2022, projecting revenue to exceed $50 billion for the first time in the company's history.

Virgin Galactic (SPCE.DE), US spaceflight company, launched today's cash trading with a massive bullish price gap. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a decision, allowing Virgin Galactic to conduct passenger space flights. FAA said that this is the first such approval it has granted. In other news, Virgin Galactic also confirmed that a test flight conducted in May went in-line with the company's predictions.

Nike (NKE.US) launched today's trading with a big bullish price gap following release of solid fiscal-Q4 earnings and upbeat forecasts for fiscal-2022. Stock leaped above the $146.00 area that marked previous record highs. A point to note is that the stock broke above the upper limit of a descending triangle pattern. Potential breakout range of this pattern points hints that first near-term resistance for Nike can be found in the $156.00 area. Source: xStation5