Stock futures cautious ahead of Fed Powell's continued testimony
The Fed will publish its annual stress tests of the nation's largest banks on Thursday
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U.S. equity futures traded cautiously higher Thursday morning a day after the Federal Reserve chairman said the U.S. central bank wants to avoid causing a recession, but one is possible as it raises interest rates to cool surging inflation.
The major futures indexes suggest a gain of 0.2% when trading begins on Wall Street.
The Fed doesn’t want to "provoke a recession," but one is possible due to rate hikes to cool inflation that is running at a four-decade high, chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday, talking to members of Congress.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, as he presents the Monetary Policy Report to the committee on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Newsroom)
Powell returns to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Financial Services Committee as part of his regular, semi-annual update on monetary policy.
POWELL PROMISES THE FED IS 'STRONGLY COMMITTED' TO FIGHTING INFLATION WITH MORE RATE HIKES
The Fed will also publish the results of its annual stress tests of the nation's largest banks, which examines how their portfolios would perform under a hypothetical market downturn.
Today's will be headlined by weekly jobless claims.
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Thursday's earnings agenda will include FedEx, Darden Restauants and Rite Aid.
An oil rig drilling a well at sunrise Midland, Texas. (REUTERS/Ernest Scheyder / Reuters Photos)
Oil prices fell sharply for a second day, suggesting traders anticipate weaker demand as economic activity cools.
OIL PRICES FALL MORE THAN 2% EXTENDING LOSSES
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 2.9%, to $103 a barrel. Brent crude futures dropped 2.5%, to $108 a barrel.
Both benchmarks tumbled around 3% on Wednesday to hit their lowest levels since mid-May.
Bitcoin traded back above $20,000.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.2%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1% and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6%.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 43444.99 | -305.87 | -0.70% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5870.62 | -78.55 | -1.32% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18680.120875 | -427.53 | -2.24% |
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.1% after swinging between a gain of 1% and a loss of 1.3% during the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 0.2% to 30,483.13. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2% to 11,053.08.
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The S&P 500 is in a bear market, or down more than 20% from its Jan. 3 peak. It has fallen in 10 of the past 11 weeks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.