US stock futures flat in holiday-thinned trade; rate cut bets grow

Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures moved little in evening deals on Wednesday with trading volumes set to remain slim due to the Independence Day holiday.

But Wall Street still hit record highs in shortened trade on Wednesday, as weak data fuelled increased expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates from September.

steadied at 5,590.50 points, while were flat at 39,646.0 points by 19:09 ET (23:09 GMT). were flat at 39,646.0 points.

Rate cut hopes put Nasdaq, S&P 500 at record highs

A swathe of weak readings on the labor market saw traders ramp up bets that the Fed will enact a 25 basis point cut in September. 

data read weaker than expected for June, while weekly grew more than expected. The readings spurred hopes that Friday’s data will signal some cooling in employment, which is a key consideration for the Fed in cutting rates.

Tracking this notion, the rose 0.5% to 5,537.02 points, while the rose 0.9% to 18,188.30 points. The lagged, falling 0.1% to 39,308.0 points.

Investors remained largely biased towards megacap growth stocks, particularly technology, with hype over artificial intelligence also factoring into sentiment. 

The showed traders pricing in a nearly 66% chance of a 25 basis point cut in September, up from 59.5% a day ago.

But other signals, specifically from the Fed, sparked little optimism over rate cuts. 

Fed minutes show officials not confident in rate cuts 

The , released on Wednesday, showed that while officials did see that the U.S. economy was cooling, they were still not confident that the central bank should begin trimming interest rates.

Sticky inflation readings in recent months saw several policymakers also call for more rate hikes, amid concerns that monetary policy was not restrictive enough.

The minutes came just a day after Fed Chair Jerome Powell flagged some progress in bringing down inflation, but warned that the central bank needed more confidence to begin trimming rates.

Several other Fed officials echoed this notion in recent weeks.