US stock futures were hovering near the flat line on Wednesday as investors await a slew of data ahead of Thanksgiving which will include the last minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
How are stock index futures traded?
-
S&P 500 ES00 Index Futures,
+0.11%
The index rose 6.75 points, or 0.1%, to 4,016.75 points -
Futures – Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00,
+0.08%
It rose 45 points, or 0.1%, to 34,169 points -
NASDAQ-100 NQ00 Futures,
+0.04%
It rose 9.25 points to 11,762
Stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 SPX,
closing up 53.64 points, or 1.4%, at 4,003.58, the Dow Industrial DJIA Index,
gaining 397.82 points, or 1.2%, to close at 34,098.10 points. nasdaq composite,
It advanced 149.89 points, or 1.4%, to close at 11,174.40.
What moves the markets?
In a potentially lower holiday trade, markets may struggle to follow Tuesday’s gains, which were driven in part by long-term hopes for an easing stance in the Fed’s rate hike plans.
Minutes of the November meeting, scheduled for 2pm EST, will be watched closely for clues about where the fed funds rate needs to go and how long it stays there in order to keep inflation under control. The Fed raised the interest rate by 0.75 percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4% at this meeting.
said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. , in a note to customers.
The possibility of getting answers to these questions, Erlam said, “will likely create paralysis in the market this morning.”
Read: It is not a “close your eyes and buy anything” market.
Elsewhere, Kansas City Federal Reserve Chair Esther George said late Tuesday that strong household savings could reinforce the need to keep interest rates high and consumer spending in check. She reportedly made the remarks during a session organized by the Central Bank of Chile in Santiago on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.
Wednesday will also bring in a large amount of data, starting with October Durable Goods and the first Unemployment Insurance Claims due at 8:30am, followed by the S&P flash indices of Manufacturing Managers and Government Services Purchasing. United States at 9:45 a.m. The latest University of Michigan consumer confidence index is due in November and five-year inflation expectations are due at 10 a.m., along with new home sales in October. All times are oriental.
US stock exchanges will be closed on Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 24, and will only reopen the day after an abbreviated session on Black Friday, the annual pre-holiday shopping event, with trading ending at 1pm EST, November 25.
Bond yields held up, with the 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y,
Trading around 3.747% and TMUBMUSD02Y for 2 years,
by 4.525%.
The spread between the two- and 10-year Treasury yields ended Tuesday’s session at -76 basis points, the most reversal since October 5, 1981, which some say points to an inevitable recession.
Elsewhere, CL.1 oil prices,
were slightly higher, while the NG00 natural gas futures contract,
It rose 7% to $7.263 per million British thermal units, as European natural gas futures also rose after Russian energy giant Gazprom threatened to cut off deliveries via a major Ukrainian pipeline to Europe. Markets are also awaiting news of an agreement between the United States and its allies regarding capping Russian oil prices.