Futures edge higher at start of big week for earnings, Fed meet

[July 25, 2022]  (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday as markets braced for a Federal Reserve policy meeting during the week and earning reports from some of the biggest companies to gauge the impact of a strong dollar and soaring inflation.

Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc and Coca-Cola Co are scheduled to post results this week.

The dollar, trading near 20-year highs following an aggressive tightening cycle by the Fed, is expected be a headwind for U.S. companies, especially those with a big global presence.

Shares of the high-growth companies rose between 0.5% and 1.2% in premarket trading.

Early gains on Monday were broad-based, with cyclical stocks also rising. Financial stocks, including American Express Co and Citigroup Inc, advanced more than 1% each. Industrial shares such as Boeing Co and 3M Co, set to report this week, gained 0.8% each.

All of the three major indexes closed higher last week. The tech heavy Nasdaq added 3.3%, the S&P 500 2.4% and the Dow gained 2%.

The Fed is widely expected to deliver another super-sized 75 basis-point rate hike at the end of its two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, effectively ending pandemic-era support for the U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, the GDP advance data on Thursday is likely to be negative again for the second quarter.

At 7:02 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 149 points, or 0.47%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 17.5 points, or 0.44%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 51 points, or 0.41%.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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