Key Events
Pinned Post
U.S. stock futures pointed to small losses early on Thursday following new index highs the previous day, with the market focusing on the possibility of a jumbo interest-rate cut in September.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 30 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures were falling 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures were also dropping 0.1%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index both reached record closing highs for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there was a good chance the Federal Reserve could slash rates by half a percentage point next month. That goes against the forecast of the market and most economists, who expect a quarter-point cut from the Fed.
“Markets aren’t pricing in anything over 25bp for now, and a 50bp option would probably not be taken seriously unless there are some hints in that direction at the Jackson Hole symposium (21-23 August), or August jobs data hugely disappoints again,” wrote ING analyst Francesco Pesole in a research note.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note stood at 4.220% early on Thursday, ticking down from the previous day. The market will be watching producer-price index data on Thursday, with core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, anticipated to increase by 2.9% on an annual basis compared with 2.6% previously.
However, traders look to have plenty of appetite for risk, with cryptocurrency Bitcoin topping $124,000 level for the first time. Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Bullish soared 84% in its initial public offering Wednesday.
“The path of least resistance for the market is higher as the S&P 500 broke out of the recent trading range,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide. “Retail investors are increasingly validated in the buy-the-dip approach, given the speed of the recovery from the recent selloff, potentially creating a self-fulfilling prophecy the next time the market experiences a minor selloff.”
