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Recent statements from Fed officials, including Cleveland
President Loretta Mester and Kansas City President Esther
George, have offered mixed clues about the future path of
interest rate hikes, but have reiterated the central bank's
resolve to stamp out inflation.
Traders are now placing their bets on a 50 basis-point increase
in the central bank's next meeting in December. [FEDWATCH]
The benchmark S&P 500 index closed at its highest level in 2-1/2
months on Tuesday after a sales forecast by Best Buy eased
concerns that high inflation would lead to a dismal holiday
shopping season.
In contrast, shares of Nordstrom were down 9.7% in premarket
trading after the fashion retailer cut its profit forecast amid
steep markdowns to attract inflation-wary customers.
Wall Street's three main indexes are on track for their second
straight month of gains, riding on a better-than-feared earnings
season and hopes of smaller increments in the Fed's rate hikes.
Trading volume is likely to fall heading into the Thanksgiving
holiday on Thursday, with the U.S. stock market open for a
half-session on Friday.
Apple Inc shares slipped 0.3% after hundreds of workers joined
protests at Foxconn's flagship iPhone plant in China, while a
source told Reuters that the unrest did not affect production at
the plant.
At 6:25 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 9 points, or 0.03% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 1.25 points, or 0.01%.
S&P 500 e-minis, which were up 1.75 points, or 0.04%, traded
within a narrow 10-point range in the last two hours, ahead of
the release of the minutes at 2:00 p.m. ET.
HP Inc shares rose 1.4% as the personal computer maker said it
planned to cut 6,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2025.
Deere & Co gained 2.8% as the farm equipment maker reported a
75% jump in quarterly profit.
On the data front, investors will keep a close watch on durable
goods and new home sales units during October, weekly jobless
claims, and S&P Global PMI flash numbers for November to assess
economic resiliency in the face of an impending slowdown.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal & Ankika Biswas; Additional
reporting by Shubham Batra; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
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