Dow Set to Open Down Ahead of More Key Jobs Data
Stocks looked set to mostly rise on Thursday, with investors betting that weak job openings data has made it all-but-certain that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this month.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 6 points, or less than 0.1%. But S&P 500 futures gained 0.1%, and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were also up 0.1%.
Alphabet and Apple muscled the S&P 500 higher on Wednesday after a judge ruled that the search giant will be able to keep its Chrome browser business, and continue to pay Apple to make Google the default search engine on iPhones and other devices.
Monthly job openings numbers also came in below economists’ expectations, strengthening the case for the Fed to cut rates, although Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report could yet shift that outlook.
Traders are now pricing in a 98% chance of a cut when the Fed meets later this month, up from 93% Wednesday, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for the central bank’s board of governors Stephen Miran is set to appear before a Senate committee on Thursday.
Bets on lower borrowing costs also halted the recent bond-market selloff. Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell by 1 basis point to 4.21% on Thursday, and 30-year yields slipped by 1 basis point to 4.89%.
Oil prices slumped as investors bet that the OPEC+ cartel will sanction another output hike. The Brent international benchmark fell 1.2% to $66.82 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude was down 1.3% to $63.17 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar climbed 0.1% against a weighted basket of its peers. Gold tumbled 1% to 3,599 an ounce, and Bitcoin was down 0.6% over the past 24 hours to $110,429.