Stock futures rose Tuesday, as Wall Street looked to rebound from a down session, while traders weighed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s latest rate hike comments.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 180 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures added 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.3%.
Nike shares rose more than 5% in the premarket after the retailer reported a beat on the top and bottom lines for its fiscal third quarter, buoyed by strong demand in North America.
Wall Street was coming off a volatile session Monday, as Powell vowed to take “necessary steps” to curb inflation less than a week after the Fed raised rates for the first time since 2018.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday fell 201.94 points, or 0.6%, breaking a five-day winning streak. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished marginally lower after rising as much as 0.4% during the session, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% to 13,838.46 after dipping as much as 1.5% at session lows.
“I’m pretty encouraged that the market came back pretty nicely in the last hour of trading,” Ed Yardeni, Yardeni Research president and chief investment strategist, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Monday.
“I think the market is looking for opportunities and the opportunities continue to be in areas like energy, commodities. I think the market will also find more opportunities in financials as interest rates go up and technology looks awfully cheap to me,” he added.
Powell on Monday said “inflation is much too high” and added that rates could increase more than the previously approved 25 basis points if needed.
Some market participants raised their expectations for rate hikes following Powell’s comments. Goldman Sachs on Monday upped its forecast to 50 basis point hikes at the May and June Fed meetings.
Oil prices eased Tuesday after rising sharply in the previous session on news that the European Union is weighing a ban on Russian oil. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark was marginally lower, while international benchmark Brent crude was marginally higher.
Investors on Tuesday continued to watch the situation in Eastern Europe, with President Joe Biden saying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back is “against the wall” as the war with Ukraine nears a stalemate.
Fed Chair Powell on Monday said “inflation is much too high” and added that rates could increase more than the previously approved 25 basis points if needed.