|
Powell kicks off two days of testimony with a hearing at 10 a.m.
ET (1500 GMT) before the House Financial Services Committee,
explaining to lawmakers why he is confident price pressures will
keep easing without upending the job market or conversely why
the window for a "soft landing" may be narrowing.
"Powell is likely to stick to the narrative of patience and data
dependency this week, but given the intense market focus on Fed
timing, there is potential for a market reaction, particularly
in the Q&A," said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at
Principal Asset Management.
Wall Street indexes closed more than 1% lower on Tuesday amid
weakness in market leaders Tesla and Apple and as investor focus
shifted to Powell and the Fed after signs of sticky inflation in
February dampened hopes of early interest rate cuts.
Traders see a 69.1% chance of the first rate cut this year in
June, as per CME Group's FedWatch tool.
Investors will also be tracking private payrolls and job
openings data, due later in day, ahead of the crucial nonfarm
payrolls report on Friday.
At 04:59 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 87 points, or 0.23%, S&P
500 e-minis were up 18.25 points, or 0.36%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were up 126.25 points, or 0.7%.
Megacap growth and technology stocks rose in premarket trading,
with Tesla recovering 1.3% after a 3.9% slide in the previous
session.
U.S.-listed shares of China's e-commerce group JD.com rose 6.4%
ahead of quarterly results.
Shares of cryptocurrency-linked companies such as Coinbase
Global and MicroStrategy gained 4.2% and 7.5%, respectively, as
bitcoin rebounded.
CrowdStrike Holdings rose 23.7% after the company forecast
annual results above Wall Street estimates, lifted by strong
enterprise spending on cybersecurity to counter rising online
threats.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju
Samuel)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
