Stock futures trade lower ahead of Powell comments
The Labor Department will report its tally of new claims for unemployment benefits
Richard Bernstein Advisors deputy CIO Dan Suzuki on inflation, interest rates and where the biggest investing opportunities are in the reopening trade.
U.S. equity futures traded lower ahead of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's monetary policy comments.
The major futures indexes suggest a decline of 0.6% when the Wall Street session begins on Thursday.
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Investors heard from Powell last week when he testified in front of Congress, but the format on Thursday will be a question-and-answer session with The Wall Street Journal, which may be more illuminating than Powell's answers to politicians.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was steady at 1.47% early Thursday.
INVESTORS LOOK TO FED FOR NEXT STEPS AS TWIST SPECULATION RAMPS UP
Investors are looking ahead to the February jobs report on Friday. Economists expect employers created 182,000 jobs last month. The report also includes numbers for how much wages are rising across the economy, a key component of inflation.
On Thursday, the Labor Department is out with its tally of new claims for unemployment benefits for last week. Expectations are for an increase of 20,000 to 750,000.
ADP REPORT SHOWS PRIVATE COMPANIES ADDED 117,000 JOBS IN FEBRUARY
In Europe, London's FTSE fell 1.1%, Germany's DAX declined 0.7% and France's CAC was off 0.4%.
Asian shares fell Thursday, tracking a decline on Wall Street as another rise in bond yields rattled investors who worry that higher inflation may prompt central banks to raise ultra-low interest rates.
Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 2.1%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 2.2% and China's Shanghai Composite index shed 2.1%.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.3% to 3,819.72, shedding an early gain. The pullback is the benchmark index's second straight loss after clocking its best day in nine months on Monday.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 44296.51 | +426.16 | +0.97% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5969.34 | +20.63 | +0.35% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 19003.651134 | +31.23 | +0.16% |
Technology companies bore the brunt of the selling, pulling the S&P 500's tech sector down 2.5%. Microsoft and Apple both fell more than 2%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4% to 31,270.09. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 2.7%, to 12,997.75.
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Prospects are rising for passage of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package with $1,400 individual payments and there has been good news on vaccine distribution, so private forecasters have been busy revising upward their economic forecasts.
Many believe the U.S. economy this year could see a rebound with growth coming in at the strongest pace since 1984. That would mark a significant rebound from last year when the economy contracted by the largest amount since 1946.
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In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 26 cents to $61.02 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained $1.53 on Wednesday to $61.28 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 25 cents to $63.82 per barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.