Futures subdued on U.S. debt ceiling jitters, Fed meet in focus

(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures were mixed on Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government could run out of money within a month, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s policy decision.

The cost of insuring against a U.S. default hit fresh highs as Yellen said the government will be unlikely to meet all payment obligations by “early June”, prompting President Joe Biden to summon four top congressional leaders to the White House next week.

“Nerves are rising about the debt ceiling standoff in the U.S., with the prospect that a default could shake the global economy … focus is now switching to how the U.S. government will be able to pay its bills amid gridlock in Washington,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

The U.S. central bank is expected to deliver a 25-basis-point interest rate increase on Wednesday and then hold rates steady for the rest of 2023, according to a Reuters poll.

Worries about an economic downturn and concerns about stress in the banking sector have fueled expectations of rate cuts in the latter half of the year.

However, with inflation running well over the central bank’s 2% target and a still-strong labor market chances of rate cuts seem less likely.

Denting sentiment globally, Australia’s central bank raised its cash rate by 25 basis points when traders were expecting an extended pause and warned of even higher rates, citing too high inflation.

U.S. stocks ended little changed on Monday following First Republic Bank (NYSE:)’s weekend auction that led to a rout in the regional bank shares, while JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:) gained after the largest U.S. bank picked up the beleaguered lender’s assets.

With manufacturing data on Monday providing the Fed room for more near-term tightening, all eyes will be on job openings and factory orders data later in the day.

At 07:23 a.m. ET, were down 50 points, or 0.15%, were down 4.25 points, or 0.1%, and were up 7 points, or 0.05%.

Analysts expect first-quarter earnings for companies to fall 1.9% from a year earlier following better-than-expected reports from some technology and growth giants, compared with a 5.1% fall expected at the start of April, according to Refinitiv data.

Pfizer Inc (NYSE:) climbed 1.5% after its first-quarter profit beat Wall Street estimates, boosted by strong demand for its recently acquired products and pneumococcal vaccines.

Uber Technologies (NYSE:) Inc surged 8.2% as the ride-hailing firm forecast quarterly core earnings above estimates. Smaller rival Lyft Inc (NASDAQ:) added 2.9%.

Educational services company Chegg (NYSE:) slumped 42.8% on a downbeat second-quarter revenue forecast on increasing competition from ChatGPT.