Futures muted, Google to pay $700M in antitrust settlement - what's moving markets

investing.com:

Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures were muted on Tuesday following comments from Federal Reserve policymakers that aimed to rein in enthusiasm in financial markets for possible impending interest rate cuts. Meanwhile, Google agrees to pay $700 million to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. states and consumers over alleged anticompetitive practices at its Play app store, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is reportedly eyeing a pay bump for some hourly workers at its battery factory in Nevada.

1. Futures little changed

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Tuesday, as investors weighed commentary from Federal Reserve officials that tried to temper exhuberance over potential interest rate cuts next year.

By 04:57 ET (09:57 GMT), Dow futures and S&P 500 futures had both moved up by 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures hovered mostly around the flatline.

The main indices on Wall Street were broadly higher on Monday, with the benchmark S&P 500 adding 0.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbing by 0.6%.

Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester pushed back against the notion that borrowing costs will soon be lowered, telling the Financial Times that markets are «a little bit ahead» in their projections for a reduction as early as March. She added that traders jumped too quickly to the «end part» that the Fed is «going to normalize quickly,» the FT reported. Her comments echoed sentiments from other Fed policymakers since the bank held rates at more than two-decade highs last week, but suggested that a dovish pivot may be coming in 2024.

In earnings, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) is due to report its November quarter results after the closing bell.

2. Google to pay $700 million in Play store settlement

Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google has agreed