Stock Futures Fall as March Rate Cut Hopes Fade Ahead of Big Earnings Week
U.S. stock futures fell early Monday ahead of another busy week of earnings as investors continued to reassess the timeline for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
Futures on the S&P 500 were 0.2% lower in premarket trading, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.2% and Nasdaq-100 futures were 0.1% down.
Traders are now pricing in a 14% chance of the Fed cutting rates in March, down from 20% Friday and 96% a month ago. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell poured more cold water on hopes for a March cut Sunday, reiterating that it was “not likely,” and that the central bank is approaching the question of when to “begin to reduce interest rates carefully.,” in an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes.
All three major indexes rose Friday, despite stronger-than-expected jobs data damaging rate-cut hopes. Stocks were helped higher by some strong earnings reports, most notably from Meta Platforms and Amazon.
The Facebook parent jumped 20%, gaining $204.5 billion in market value Friday, the largest one-day gain for any U.S. company in history.
Earnings are set to be key for the stock market again this week with around 100 S&P 500 companies reporting in the coming days. Caterpillar and McDonald’s are among those scheduled to release results Monday, while BP, Ford and Eli Lilly will follow on Tuesday before Alibaba, PayPal, Uber and Disney report Wednesday.