U.S. Stock Futures Little Changed After Hawkish FOMC Minutes
2022.04.07 01:35
By Oliver Gray
Investing.com – U.S. stock futures were flat in overnight trading Wednesday after major benchmark indices posted losses for a second consecutive session as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s plans to tighten monetary policy.
During Wednesday’s regular trade, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 100 points, the S&P 500 slid 1% and the NASDAQ Composite dropped another 2.2%.
Dow Jones Futures fell 0.08%, S&P 500 Futures eased 0.04% while Nasdaq 100 Futures added 0.06%.
Among stocks, technology declined during Wednesday’s regular deals, with Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) down 5.3%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) falling 3.2%, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) down 3.7%, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) falling 1.9% and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) down 2.9%.
Major financial players retreated as JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) lost 1.4%, Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) fell 2.2%, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) lost 1.1% and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) fell 2%.
In extended deals, Shares of Levi Strauss & Co (NYSE:LEVI). rose more than 1% in extended trading Wednesday after reporting quarterly earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ estimates.
In policy news, FOMC meeting minutes showed the Fed officials “generally agreed” to cut up to $US95 billion a month from the central bank’s asset holdings as another tool in the fight against surging inflation, even as the war in Ukraine tempered the first U.S. interest rate increase. Policymakers also indicated that one or more 50-basis-point interest rate hikes could be warranted to battle surging inflation.
On the bond markets, United States 10-Year rates were at 2.598%.
Investors await the weekly jobless claims data Thursday morning, which is expected to show a total of 200,000 claims filed.
