Stock futures opened higher on Thursday as investors awaited a key update on the recovery of the labor market and continued to monitor the global economic consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine.
Contracts for the S&P 500 have risen. The index fell 0.5% during the regular trading day as technology and growth stocks came under new pressure and the Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 1.6%. Government bond yields stabilized after falling earlier this week, with a 10-year reference yield of more than 1.8%.
A new set of economic data, due to be released on Friday morning, is expected to confirm to investors that the US economy has recovered enough to allow monetary policy makers to ease their support from the crisis. The February report on the Ministry of Labor’s jobs is expected to show a fourteenth consecutive month of wage increases, with jobs rising by more than 400,000 and the unemployment rate falling to 3.9% – or the lowest since February 2020. years before the pandemic. Such a result would reflect much better-than-expected data on private wages received from ADP earlier this week.
And now Fed employees have declared victory in fulfilling their mandate for employment in the economy. In a statement to Congress this week, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said most members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) would agree that the U.S. labor market is now at a level consistent with maximum employment.
And even ahead of the February job report, Powell said he would support raising the interest rate by 25 basis points at a Fed meeting in March, ending speculation that the central bank could continue with a more aggressive increase of 50 basis points. points to jump … start your efforts to reduce inflation. But steady price hikes have left open the question of how aggressively the Fed will need to tighten monetary policy for the rest of the year.
Inflation fears have only deepened as crude oil prices have jumped to multi-year highs, with crude oil prices in West Texas rising more than 40 percent year-on-year to just over $ 100 a barrel. But for monetary policymakers, these concerns had to be weighed against the uncertainty now posed by the crisis in Ukraine.
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“Recent actions over the past week, given the combination of the Russia-Ukraine situation and the continuing footprints of inflation, have lowered market expectations to closer to five increases, perhaps even lower,” said Matt Kishlanski. GenTrust Wealth Management Director, told Yahoo Finance Live. “So I think the Fed needs to give a signal in that sense that they think they’re really going to be there.”
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18:13 ET Thursday: Futures on stocks are rising
Here are the main market movements on Thursday night:
S&P 500 futures (ES = F): +6.5 points (+ 0.15%), to 4365.75
Dow futures (YM = F): +54 points (+ 0.16%), up to 33,792.00
Nasdaq futures (NQ = F): +31.25 points (+ 0.22%) to 14,061.75
A trader traded on the New York Stock Exchange in New York, United States, February 28, 2022. U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday as investors watched updates on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 166.15 points, or 0.49 percent, to 33,892.60. The S&P 500 fell 10.71 points, or 0.24 percent, to 4,373.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 56.78 points, or 0.41 percent, to 13,751.40. (Allie Joseph / NYSE / Xinhua Distribution)
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter
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