Futures tick up with focus on Fed commentary, economic data
2024.12.04 06:03
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday, with those tied to the hitting all-time highs as investors focus on upcoming data and commentary from central bank officials including Chair Jerome Powell.
November private payrolls data is due at 8:15 a.m. ET, while the highly anticipated November monthly employment report is expected on Friday.
Traders currently see a near 74% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut by the Fed this month, compared to a more than 66% chance seen a week earlier, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.
U.S. Federal Reserve officials said on Tuesday they continue to believe inflation is heading down to their 2% target. While most signaled support for further interest-rate cuts, none pushed strongly for or against a reduction at the Fed’s meeting in two weeks.
Comments from Fed Chair Powell are due later in the day, while the ‘Beige Book’, a U.S. economic activity survey from the central bank, is scheduled for release at 2:00 p.m. ET.
November non-manufacturing activity surveys from S&P Global and the Institute for Supply Management are due shortly after markets open.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted record closing highs on Tuesday, as tech-related stocks continued their rise in a turbulent session.
U.S. stocks had a solid November after President-elect Donald Trump recaptured the White House in the Nov. 5 election and his Republican Party swept both houses of Congress.
The benchmark S&P 500 is up almost 27% so far this year, significantly outperforming bourses in Europe, Japan and mainland China.
At 05:03 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 188 points, or 0.42%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 13.75 points, or 0.23%, hitting all-time highs, while E-minis were up 114.25 points, or 0.54%.
Most megacap and growth stocks were broadly higher in premarket trading, with Tesla (NASDAQ:) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:) leading gains with a 0.9% rise each.
Salesforce (NYSE:) jumped 12.8% after the enterprise cloud company beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue and raised the lower end of its annual revenue forecast.
Marvell (NASDAQ:) Technology advanced 12.4% after the chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter revenue above analyst estimates, while digital identity verification firm Okta (NASDAQ:) soared 17.2% after reporting third-quarter profit versus a year-ago loss.
