US stock futures rise on Powell's speech, rate cut in focus

Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures rose in evening trade on Thursday, focused on an address by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for more clues about the bank’s plan to cut interest rates.

Futures rose after Wall Street posted deep losses during the session as investors were bothered by data showing that the US labor market was in a much worse position than initially expected. Investors also ditched heavyweight tech stocks as caution rose ahead of key earnings from NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) next week.

A rebound in the dollar and Treasury yields also weighed on stock markets.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 percent at 5,603.50 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.3 percent at 19,628.25 points by 19:14 ET (23:14 GMT). Dow Jones Futures rose 0.1% to 40,881.0 points.

Powell began speaking at Jackson Hole

Fed Chairman Powell is scheduled to speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday and is expected to give more clues about the central bank’s plans to begin cutting interest rates.

While Powell is unlikely to explicitly signal a rate cut in September, markets are pricing in certainty that the central bank will cut rates next month. Traders are split between a discount of 25 and 50 basis points, CME Fedwatch showed.

Recent signs of cooling in the US economy, particularly in the labor market, have raised expectations of lower interest rates. Data earlier this week showed a sharp downward revision of payrolls for the year to March 2024, indicating that any fall in payrolls seen in recent months was from a much smaller base than originally expected.

The reading heightened concerns that a sharply declining labor market will put the economy on a path to a hard landing and a potential recession.

Wall St was hit by tech losses as yields rebound

Wall Street’s indexes posted deep losses on Thursday, weighed down mainly by losses in technology stocks, as traders pivoted to more rate-sensitive sectors.

A rebound in the dollar and Treasury yields also pressured growth stocks.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent to 5,570.64 points, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 1.6 percent to 17,626.07 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 percent to 40,712.78 points.

Chipmaker NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell 3.7% on Thursday, although it rose slightly in aftermarket trading, focusing on its quarterly earnings due next week.

Investors will be watching to see if the company can justify an AI-fueled valuation surge over the past year that has catapulted Nvidia to become Wall Street’s third-largest company.

US stock futures rise on Powell’s speech, rate cuts in focus

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