Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on December 17, 2024.
New York Stock Exchange
U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday night as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s December interest rate decision.
futures linked Dow Jones Industrial Average An increase of 57 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 Index Futures The addition amount is less than 0.1%, and at the same time Nasdaq 100 Futures It fell slightly by less than 0.1%.
this Dow Chemical It fell 267.58 points, or 0.61%, during the regular trading session, falling for nine consecutive days, the longest losing streak since 1978. S&P 500 Index Technology stocks fell 0.39% Nasdaq Index down 0.32%.
The losses came ahead of a policy decision by the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday afternoon. Fed funds futures trading currently points to a 95% chance of a quarter-percentage point rate cut, according to the Federal Reserve. CME FedWatch Tool.
Investors will also be closely watching a summary of economic forecasts from Federal Reserve policymakers and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference for clues about what may happen in the coming months. The central bank is widely expected to temper runaway expectations of further interest rate cuts over the next year, especially as inflation remains stubborn.
“I think we’re going to get a rate cut tomorrow, but I think the rhetoric and tone will probably be as tough as we’ve seen from Powell in a while,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird. “While they’re not “There will be action on policies that haven’t been enacted yet, but I think they’ll be a little hesitant to commit to more than four rate cuts in 2025 when there’s a lot of uncertainty.”
In turn, Wednesday’s hawkish comments could lead to lower stocks. But Mayfield added that he was optimistic that volatility surrounding Fed meetings would generally not last long.
“In the days when the Fed announced policy changes and the way they spoke, we’ve seen some big moves that were either later reversed and either gave back gains or subsequently cut losses. So I’m not too worried about what’s going to happen after tomorrow. What,” he added.
Before the bells ring on Wednesday, general mills, Birkenstocks and Jabil will report their latest earnings. Results from Micron Technology and Lenard Expected to end in the afternoon.
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