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Powell, in his prepared remarks to the House panel on Wednesday,
said rate reductions will "likely be appropriate" later this
year, "if the economy evolves broadly as expected" and once
officials gain more confidence in inflation's steady decline.
Wall Street closed higher with rate-sensitive technology stocks
and chip stocks leading gains in the previous session.
All eyes will be back on Powell who is set to wrap up his
two-day testimony on Thursday.
Investors also awaited jobless claims data, which, along with
the crucial nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, could provide
further details on the strength of the U.S. labor market.
Signs of persistent strength in the labor market could make it
difficult for the Fed to start cutting interest rates in June as
currently envisaged by financial markets.
At 05:02 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 34 points, or 0.09%, S&P
500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.03%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were up 34.75 points, or 0.19%.
Electric carmaker Tesla lagged megacap growth and technology
peers in premarket trading, down 0.6%.
Chip stocks such as Nvidia and Micron Technology gained 1.4% and
3.1%, respectively, and were set to extend their rally from the
previous session.
Lingerie maker Victoria's Secret & Co dropped 32% on weak annual
and first-quarter forecasts.
Eli Lilly shed 1.7% after rival Novo Nordisk said early trial
data for its highly anticipated experimental drug, amycretin,
showed that participants had a weight loss of 13.1% after 12
weeks.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju
Samuel)
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