at 6:31am this morning, briefing.com says the futures are up 9.7. That's almost 1% higher than yesterdays close. SPY and DIA were both trading flat at this time. How can this be?? Thanks for any insights, I'm just a little confused here. It probably has something to do with fair value (?), but yet it still boggles my mind how the futures can be up 9.7 but yet SPY and DIA are trading flat. Thanks again for any insights, +-*/ Math_Wiz
+9.7 was not correct at any time this morning, but that's not surprising - Briefing's futures numbers are wrong some times. Also be aware that the "change" values for different correlated instruments can be wildly different from each other because of differences in their reference points. The futures close at 16:15 ET, and a settlement price is established through some sort of VWAP-like process soon after. Some platforms might use the last tick as the reference point, while others (correctly) use the settlement price. The same ambiguity can exist for ETFs, with some platforms using the last composite tick or the last print on the primary exchange at 16:00 ET or 16:15 ET, while others might use the official closing print from the primary exchange.
Ahh, thanks. Also, I just noticed Briefing.com quoted some different figures at 7:59am, saying the futures are up only 0.7 instead of 9.7. They made no retraction of their earlier statement at 6:31am, but yet I just went back to look at it and it has disappeared. Very odd! Makes me wonder what other kind of shenanigans they pull, posting statements and then retracting them without telling anybody. Oh well, thanks for your help, +-*/ Math_Wiz
They do correct mistakes sometimes without mentioning it. I don't think anyone relies on their stock/futures quotes. If it's important (like a wrong earnings number or CPI number), they usually correct it and also post a new headline saying they corrected it.