U.S. stock futures nudged higher early Thursday after falling to a six-week trough amid rising bond yields.
How are stock-index futures trading
-
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
+0.23%
rose 6 points, or 0.1%, to 4426 -
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
+0.26%
added 50 points, or 0.1%, to 34871 -
Nasdaq 100 futures
NQ00,
+0.19%
gained 29 points, or 0.2%, to 14971
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
fell 181 points, or 0.52%, to 34766, the S&P 500
SPX
declined 34 points, or 0.76%, to 4404, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP
dropped 156 points, or 1.15%, to 13475.
What’s driving markets
Bonds have resumed command of the stock market of late, and with yields continuing to rise in early Thursday trading it left equity futures struggling to rally with any conviction.
The S&P 500 closed on Wednesday at its lowest in about six weeks after benchmark government bond yields hit their highest in 15 years following minutes from the Federal Reserve that suggested the central bank was minded to keep raising borrowing costs to damp inflation.
Recent stronger-than-expected economic data and Fed comments “has led some investors to reconsider whether the fact that markets had been pricing in victory against inflation came too early, and in any event whether higher rates could remain in place for longer than had been anticipated,” said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
“Technology stocks are seen as being especially vulnerable to higher interest rates, such that the Nasdaq and to some extent the S&P500 bore the brunt of a wave of selling,” Hunter added, while also noting that the overall picture for the year remains strongly positive, with the Nasdaq up 29%, the S&P 500 up 15% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 5%.
Cisco Systems
CSCO,
may support the technology sector at the start on Thursday, with its shares up more than 2% in premarket action after the network equipment maker reported strong quarterly results after Wednesday’s close.
Walmart’s
WMT,
results will be the likely corporate highlight ahead of the opening bell.
U.S. economic updates set for release on Thursday include the weekly initial jobless claims and the August Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey, both due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. The leading economic indicators report will be released at 10 a.m..
“It remains correct to have a ‘Hawk-eye’ like focus on Treasury yields, as the push back above 4.00% in both TNX and TYX directly coincided with Equities starting to accelerate lower,” said Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat.
The TNX
XX:TNX
and TYX
XX:TYX
are the CBOE 10 and 30-year Treasury bond yield indices, respectively.
“My SPX 4350-4400 support target discussed in late July looks to be tested sooner than I thought would happen. I still view this as a short-term pullback, which should lead to a resumption of a rally. However, this might be delayed until after the Jackson Hole summit,” Newton added.
The Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, during which Fed Chair Jay Powell is expected to give a speech, will be held on August 24th to 26th.
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