Futures rise ahead of Fed Chair Powell's testimony

[January 11, 2022]   By Bansari Mayur Kamdar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday as investors picked up beaten-down stocks ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony that may offer fresh insight on policy tightening and the central bank's plans to tackle inflation.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 10, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The rise in futures set the S&P 500 index on course to break a five-day slump, while the Nasdaq was set to extend thin gains from Monday as big tech stocks gained after being battered by rising bond yields.

Megacap growth companies including Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc and Tesla Inc rose up to 1% in premarket trading.

Marko Kolanovic, chief global markets strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co, called the recent pull-back in riskier assets "arguably overdone" and said it presented investors with a buying opportunity.

Powell is set to appear before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m ET for consideration for a second four-year term as head of the Fed, while Lael Brainard is set to appear before the same panel on Thursday for promotion to a four-year term as Fed vice chair.

At 6:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 95 points, or 0.26%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 19.25 points, or 0.41%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 93.5 points, or 0.6%.

Equity markets have been battered since the start of this year after minutes from the Fed's December meeting pointed to a sooner-than-expected rise in interest rates due to rising inflationary pressures.

Investors will eye key consumer inflation data on Wednesday, with the headline CPI expected to come in at a red-hot 7% on a year-on-year basis, adding to fears that it could sway the trajectory of the Fed's interest rate hikes.

The center-piece event of the week is the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season on Friday, with big banks expected to show an uptick in quarterly core revenue thanks to new lending and firming Treasury yields.

Big banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Corp, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc gained between 0.4% and 0.6%.

Intel gained 1.3% after the chipmaker named Micron Technologies finance head David Zinsner as CFO and executive vice president from Jan. 17, while Micron declined 0.6%.

(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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