Futures tick higher ahead of jobless claims data

By Shashwat Chauhan and Lisa Pauline Mattackal

(Reuters) -Wall Street futures edged higher on Thursday ahead of upcoming economic data in the lead up to the Federal Reserve’s likely interest rate cut next week.

Most megacap and growth stocks rose slightly in premarket trading, with Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) up more than 1%.

A reading of producer prices and the weekly jobless claims report are both expected at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Jobless claims will be in focus given the Fed’s scrutiny of the labor market’s health. Economists polled by Reuters have forecast a reading of 230,000.

A string of weakening employment and economic growth data over the past few weeks had led to rising bets on a larger-than-usual 50-basis point interest rate reduction from the U.S. central bank, but those expectations have largely faded.

After Wednesday’s inflation report, traders now see an 87% chance of the Fed cutting interest rates by 25 bps when it meets on Sept. 17-18, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool. It would be the first rate cut since March 2020.

“Our base case forecast looks for a 25 bps reduction in the federal funds rate at the September FOMC meeting followed by two 50 bps rate cuts at the November and December FOMC meetings,” analysts at Wells Fargo said.

“We believe the 225 bps of cumulative monetary policy easing that we project over the next nine months or so will be enough to keep this economic expansion intact.”

Nvidia (NASDAQ:), which rallied 8.2% on Wednesday following a report the U.S. government is considering allowing the firm to export advanced chips to Saudi Arabia, looked set to extend its winning run and was up 0.7% before the bell.

E-minis were up 9.25 points, or 0.17%, E-minis were up 21.75 points, or 0.11%, Dow E-minis were up 77 points, or 0.19%.

Futures tracking the economically sensitive small-cap rose 0.5%.

On Wednesday, a boost from the tech sector offset investor disappointment following the inflation data.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed more than 2% higher, while the S&P 500 closed up 1% in volatile trading which saw the benchmark index fall as much 1.5% intraday.

U.S. consumer prices rose slightly in August, but underlying inflation showed some stickiness. The core reading, which excludes volatile food and energy components, climbed 0.3% compared to an estimated 0.2% increase.

Vaccine maker Moderna (NASDAQ:) slumped 9% in premarket trading on Thursday after forecasting sales between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion next year, below analysts’ estimates.