U.S. stock index futures edged higher Wednesday in holiday-impacted volumes, helped by dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
At 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT), Dow Jones Futures rose 65 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures climbed 4 points or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures edged 20 points, or 0.1%, higher.
The main Wall Street indices are set for a shortened trading day on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s Independence Day holiday, and come off strong gains on Tuesday after Powell flagged some progress in cooling inflation.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.6% to close above 5,500 for the first time. The NASDAQ Composite advanced 0.8% to close at a record, and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%.
Fed minutes, labour data in focus
Fed Chair Jerome Powell flagged some progress in bringing down inflation, as he appeared at a European Central Bank forum in Portugal on Tuesday, although he warned that the Fed still needed much more confidence to begin cutting interest rates.
Investors will now focus on the minutes of the Fed’s June meeting, which are due later in the session. This was the meeting which saw the U.S. central bank keep rates steady, but slash its forecast for interest rate cuts in 2024, citing concerns over the sticky inflation.
Other Fed officials are also set to speak, with New York Fed President John Williams speaking later on Wednesday.
Market focus this week is also on a slew of key labour market readings – most importantly nonfarm payrolls data on Friday. But before that, ADP payroll data is due later Wednesday, while JOLTs job openings data released Tuesday was hotter than expected.
Strength in the labour market is another key consideration for the Fed in cutting interest rates.
Paramount Global surges
Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA) jumped 9% premarket after Reuters reported that the movie studio’s controlling shareholder, National Amusements, had entered a preliminary merger deal with Skydance Media.
First Foundation (NYSE: FFWM) slid over 27% after the firm received a $228 million equity investment from affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, Canyon Partners, Strategic Value Bank Partners, North Reef Capital and others, who will buy heavily discounted shares in the firm. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the bank had heavy exposure to commercial real estate.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock fell 0.3% premarket with the iPhone maker set to take an observer role on the board of ChatGPT-maker and artificial intelligence-darling OpenAI, according to media reports.
Crude rises after large U.S. stockpiles draw.
Crude prices rose Wednesday, boosted by industry data showing a bigger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude inventories.
By 06:00 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 0.1% higher at $82.84 per barrel, while the Brent contract added 0.1% to $86.30 a barrel.
Both benchmarks had fallen back from their highest levels since the end of April during the previous session on fading concerns that Hurricane Beryl would disrupt production in the Gulf of Mexico.
The American Petroleum Institute released data on Tuesday showing that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by just over 9 million barrels in the week ended June 28, much more than expected.
The Energy Information Administration is due to release the official weekly data later in the session.
