US stock futures edge largely higher; Fed policymakers in focus
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures edged higher Monday at the start of the last full trading week before the Christmas holidays, continuing the recent positive tone driven by expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts next year.
By 06:50 ET (11:50 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 22 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 2 points, or 0.1%, higher, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 15 points, or 0.1%.
The main Wall Street indices all posted gains last week, their seventh-consecutive positive week, with the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a new intraday all-time high.
This rally has been largely driven by expectations that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates and will likely pivot to cuts next year, hopefully allowing the U.S. economy to recover strongly in 2024.
That said, this positive tone has been somewhat tempered by comments from New York Fed President John Williams late last week, who stated that policymakers were not «really talking about» interest rate cuts «right now.»
The economic data slate is largely empty Monday, and investors are likely to focus on comments from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee later in the session, and Raphael Bostic on Tuesday, for further clues over the likely path of future Fed monetary policy.
The week’s main release will be the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s favorite gauge of inflation, on Friday, which is likely to show easing consumer price pressures.
The news out of Europe was less impressive earlier Monday, as German business sentiment unexpectedly weakened in December, according to data from the Ifo institute.
The Ifo institute said its business climate index stood at 86.4 versus the 87.8 expected,
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