Us Stock Index Futures Turn Positive Ahead Of Powell Speech

Us Stock Index Futures Turn Positive Ahead Of Powell Speech by Emily Clark last updated on March 14, 2023

US Stock Index Futures Turn Positive Ahead Of Powell Speech

All the major stock index futures from the USA are turning higher ahead of the much anticipated Powell speech later today. The market is expecting fresh impetus from Jerome Powell on how long the Fed will keep rates at these high levels.

Their speech of Powell is scheduled to happen just before the meeting of the Economic Club of Washington. And considering we got strong jobs reports just a few days ago, there is less hope that Fed will deviate away from its aggressive monetary policy.

Fed Is Less Likely To Lower Interest Rates

If we look at the whole situation from a theoretical view, it becomes clear that Fed is now less likely to stop its policy of introducing new rate hikes every few months.

In order for the Fed to change its stance, it needs to look at two things: inflation and the health of the jobs market in the USA. So on that front, we need low inflation and a weak jobs market to make the Fed change its current policy.

And if we look at the main future indices of the USA, the one leading the front is the Nasdaq 100 e-minis. Dow e-minis were up by 0.01%, while the S&P 500 e-minis were up by 0.13% or around 5.25 points. However, these advances are just some noise ahead of the Powell speech. And if we look around,

Similarly, we also saw some big activity in some companies such as Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Boeing (BA), and Royal Caribbean (RCL). The tech giant Microsoft was up by 0.9% during the premarket trading session.

In addition, the Boeing (BA) company's shares were also up by 1.1% as it announced a plan to cut 2000 jobs. This process will reduce the company's expenditure while improving its profitability as well.

And the Royal Caribbean (RCL) is all set to announce its 4th quarter result that could also affect one of the US's major indices.