U.S. stock futures dipped on Wednesday as a more cautious tone prevailed following a strong start to the fourth quarter.How are stock index-futures trading
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
-1.01%
dipped 31 points, or 0.8%, to 3772
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-1.01%
fell 242 points, or 0.8%, to 30123
Nasdaq 100 futures
NQ00,
-1.04%
eased 90 points, or 0.8%, to 11550
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+2.80%
rose 825 points, or 2.8%, to 30316, the S&P 500
SPX,
+3.06%
increased 113 points, or 3.06%, to 3791, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+7.79%
gained 361 points, or 3.34%, to 11176. The Nasdaq Composite was up 5.7% from its 52-week closing low, but it remains down 28.6% for the year to date.
What’s driving markets Wall Street was on course for a relatively mild pullback, as futures suffered some selling after a sturdy rally over the past two sessions. The S&P 500 has just enjoyed its largest two day percentage gain since April 2020, and the best start to a quarter since 1938, according to Dow Jones Market data. The bounce followed three quarters of declines, the worst such run since 2008, during which time the S&P 500 fell 24.8% to a near two-year trough as investors worried that the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes to crush inflation would harm the economy. However, recent soft U.S data, covering job openings and manufacturing, have encouraged some traders to trim bets on aggressive Fed hiking. A week ago markets were forecasting U.S. interest rates would peak at nearly 4.8% by April 2023, but that figure has come down to 4.5%. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will speak at 4 p.m. Eastern. Johanna Chua, chief Asia economist at Citi, said that though U.S growth remained in better shape than other countries and Fed officials continued to sound hawkish, the market risked being wrongfooted by any signs that interest rates could soon peak. “Even as the overall fundamental setup has not changed… trimming of bearish risk/bearish rates/bullish USD positions has driven a sharp reversal,” Chua said.
This view that oversold conditions and overly bearish s …