U.S. stock futures drift lower, Fed minutes loom - what's moving markets

investing.com:

Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures edge lower as traders return to their desks following the Fourth of July holiday. Attention will largely be on the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting, while investors will also be digesting disappointing services sector data out of China.

1. U.S. stock futures point lower after Independence Day holiday

U.S. stock futures inched down on Wednesday as Wall Street prepared to reopen after the Fourth of July holiday and investors awaited the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting (see below).

At 05:20 ET (09:20 GMT), the Dow futures contract dropped by 99 points or 0.29%, S&P 500 futures shed 13 points or 0.31%, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 70 points or 0.46%.

Markets in the U.S. were shuttered on Tuesday and closed early on the prior day.

In shortened trading on Monday, the main indices posted muted gains to kick off the second half of 2023, with the benchmark S&P 500 increasing by 0.12% and the broad-based Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by 0.03%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which has performed strongly throughout the year thanks in part to a surge in interest in artificial intelligence, ticked higher by 0.21%.

2. Fed minutes on the horizon

The Federal Reserve is set to publish the minutes from its June policy meeting Wednesday, with observers keen to learn more about why officials at the U.S. central bank decided to keep interest rates on hold last month.

At their last gathering, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to keep borrowing costs steady at the existing target range of 5% to 5.25%. But policymakers signaled the possibility of two further rate hikes in 2023, including one at the Fed's next meeting later this