Stock futures rose slightly in overnight trading Thursday as traders await an all-important policy speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell for any guidance on future rate cuts.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 47 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures edged up 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
The Fed chairman, set to speak at 10 a.m. ET from the central bank’s annual conclave in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is expected to signal it’s appropriate for the central bank to begin lowering interest rates soon, with limited clues about the magnitude and frequency of the reductions.
“Powell is expected to lay the groundwork for the Fed’s first rate cut in over four years,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial. “Signs of reduced pricing pressures and cooling economic growth will likely be enough for policymakers to start reducing the target rate.”
Markets are betting on a quarter percentage point cut at the Sept. 17-18 meeting, and leaving open about a 1-in-4 chance for a half percentage point reduction, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch. Minutes from the July session showed a “vast majority” of members in favor of a September cut.
On Thursday in the run-up to the Jackson Hole speech, stocks were pressured by a surge in Treasury yields. The S&P 500 fell 0.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.7%, suffering its worst day since Aug. 5. The blue-chip Dow lost 177 points.
The Dow and the S&P 500 are still up modestly this week. However, the Nasdaq is down 0.1% week to date, poised to post fifth negative week in six.
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