Awaiting Fed Chair Powell's Comments, Stock Futures Edge Higher‍

March 7, 2023

minute read

Stock futures traded slightly higher on Tuesday, as traders awaited the latest comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

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A flat market was seen in Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures, and a 0.1% increase was seen in Nasdaq-100 futures.

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Premarket trading for Dick's Sporting Goods jumped on a strong holiday quarter. WeightWatchers, also known as WW International, jumped 14% after announcing plans to acquire Sequence, a chronic weight management telehealth platform.

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A congressional hearing from Fed Chair Powell is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday when he will speak about where he sees the economy and interest rates going in the future.

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As the week culminates with Friday's February jobs report, the market's direction may be determined by the commentary near-term.

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“During this week’s risk asset selloff, we will await Kuroda’s final BoJ meeting and Saturday’s US payroll data (as well as Powell’s testimony to Congress),” wrote Barclays’ Ajay Rajadhyaksha.

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It was a mildly positive session for the major averages last week. Along with the Nasdaq and S&P 500, the Dow advanced 0.1% on Monday.

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A buy rating was launched by Goldman Sachs on Apple, lifting both its stock and the overall market. The S&P 500 contains about 7% Apple stock. Alphabet and Microsoft were also among the mega-cap tech stocks that advanced.

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After a slight rise in bond yields, most of those gains were given up by the major averages. Bond market moves have caused investors to be concerned after the 10-year Treasury yield topped 4% recently.

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Investors will gain insight into the consumer economy after Tuesday's opening bell with wholesale inventory data. Compared to the prior reading, Dow Jones economists are expecting a decline of 0.4%.

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Dow Jones consensus estimates predict a $22 billion rise in consumer credit in January, according to consumer credit data expected Tuesday afternoon. This follows an $11.6 billion increase in the previous month.

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