LDN - Business

Futures tread higher on bets of end to Fed's rate hikes

[November 02, 2023] By Amruta Khandekar and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) -Futures for Wall Street's main stock indexes on Thursday got a boost from hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve had reached the end of its tightening campaign, while a number of upbeat corporate updates also lifted sentiment.

The Fed held interest rates steady on Wednesday, as expected, and while Chair Jerome Powell left the door open to further tightening, he also acknowledged the impact of a recent surge in bond yields on the economy.

The comments, which were perceived to be dovish, sent U.S. Treasury yields tumbling, with the benchmark 10-year yield hitting a fresh two-week low.

That, in turn, fueled gains in mega-cap growth stocks. Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet and Tesla rose between 0.7% and 2.5% in premarket trading.

"Overall, markets interpreted the meeting to have been dovish," said Charu Chanana, market strategist at Saxo Markets.

"Given the weakening consumer and business confidence trends and rising risks of delinquencies, the odds remain tilted to suggest that we have reached an end of the Fed's tightening cycle."

Traders pared back the risk of a December hike to about 20% and a January move to 25%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. They have also priced in a 70% chance that the tightening is over.

U.S. equities have kicked off November on a brighter note — after a grueling October marred by fears of higher-for-longer interest rates and geopolitical tensions — though a mixed bag of earnings reports have kept a lid on sentiment.

However, with the quarterly earnings season now well beyond the halfway point, the more recent earnings reports from major Wall Street companies were upbeat.

Shares of Qualcomm climbed 5.7% after the chip designer forecast first-quarter sales and profit above Wall Street estimates as the slowdown in smartphone sales eases.

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Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 27, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

PayPal advanced 6.1% as the payments giant raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast.

Starbucks jumped 5.5% after beating estimates on quarterly comparable sales, while Moderna fell 3.1% after lowering its 2023 COVID-19 vaccine sales forecast.

Apple's shares rose nearly 1% ahead of the tech behemoth's quarterly numbers due after markets close on Thursday.

Investors will also parse a report on factory orders for September, due at 10 a.m. ET. The main data point of the week, however, will be the October non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which will offer more clarity on the state of the labor market.

The Cboe Volatility index, also known as Wall Street's fear gauge, touched a three-week low.

At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 123 points, or 0.37%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 21 points, or 0.49%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 113.25 points, or 0.77%.

SolarEdge Technologies fell 17.9% following the solar inverter maker's downbeat fourth-quarter revenue outlook.

Albemarle slipped 4.2% as the lithium producer trimmed its annual sales forecast, while vacation lodging platform Airbnb fell 2.1% after forecasting fourth-quarter revenue slightly below estimates.

(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Shounak Dasgupta)

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