© Reuters. Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 20, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Friday, setting Wall Street on course for strong weekly gains, as investors cheered the Federal Reserve sticking to its rate-easing stance and awaited commentary from Chair Jerome Powell later in the day.
All three main U.S. indexes hit fresh record closing highs in the previous session as chip stocks rallied after Micron Technology (NASDAQ:)’s upbeat forecast and the Fed signaled it was still on track for three interest-rate cuts this year.
Traders now see a 70% chance of the first rate cut hitting in June, from 56% at the start of this week, according to the CME’s FedWatch Tool.
“The Federal Reserve sent a rather clear message earlier this week: some resilience in activity data won’t be a barrier to cutting as long as inflation shows downward momentum,” ING’s FX strategist, Francesco Pesole, wrote in a morning note.
Investors will also be closely monitoring commentary from a host of other central bankers expected later in the day for further cues on the central bank’s monetary policy trajectory.
The blue-chip Dow ended Thursday less than 1% away from the 40,000-mark for the first time. Along with the benchmark , the Dow was on track to its best weekly performance so far this year.
Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was set to notch its best week since mid-January.
At 7:00 a.m. ET, were up 39 points, or 0.1%, were up 6 points, or 0.11%, and were up 13.75 points, or 0.07%.
Most rate-sensitive megacap growth and technology stocks advanced in premarket trading.
Tesla (NASDAQ:), however, fell 3.0% following a report that the EV maker has reduced car production at its plant in China.
Nevertheless, the EV maker and many of the othermarket leaders were set for strong weekly gains. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has gained nearly 3% so far this week.
Nike (NYSE:) shed 6.3% after the world’s largest sportswear maker warned that its revenue in the first half of fiscal 2025 would shrink by a low-single-digit percentage, as it scales back on franchises to save costs.
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:) forecast annual revenue and profit below expectations as demand wanes for the apparel retailer’s premium athleisure, mainly in North America, sending its shares down 12.4%.
Social media platform Reddit lost 3.7% a day after its strong market debut.
FedEx (NYSE:) advanced 12.6% after the company beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit and operating margin in the parcel delivery firm’s largest unit, Express, which rose 2.5% in the February fiscal quarter from 1.2% a year ago.
While most S&P 500 companies will not report on the current quarter until after mid-April, investors are likely to pay close attention to earnings that come earlier for clues on how the rest of the season will go.
