As Wall Street awaited new information to test preconceived notions that the Federal Reserve would lower interest rates in December, US stock futures were in a holding pattern on Thursday.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) saw mostly flat trading. Following modest closing advances for Wall Street equities, contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) remained just below the flatline.
The rising belief that the Fed will move toward easing at its policy meeting next week, driven by backing from important members and a disappointing run of economic data, is buoying equities.
Following a lower-than-expected ADP estimate on private employment, traders are pricing in an 89% chance of a rate cut, according to CME FedWatch.
Expectations for lower rates are being fueled by rumors that Kevin Hassett would succeed Jerome Powell as chair of the Fed. Given his supporter President Trump's strong campaign for quick cuts, the White House's top economic counselor is expected to usher in a more dovish period at the Fed.
However, bond investors have apparently expressed worries to the US Treasury, and markets are reportedly skeptical of Hassett.
Later on Thursday, Challenger's monthly report on job cuts and a weekly update on new jobless claims will provide more information about the status of the labor market.
In order to put rate-cut expectations to the test, markets are now beginning to look forward to Friday's release of the delayed September PCE statistic on consumer prices, the Fed's favored measure of inflation.
Salesforce (CRM) shares surged in the last stretch of earnings season after the company released an improved outlook that exceeded analyst expectations.
Even as Snowflake (SNOW) strengthened its relationship with Anthropic (ANTH.PVT), its shares plunged more than 8% after the AI data cloud provider's revenue forecast fell short.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) earnings are scheduled for Thursday, while results from retailers Dollar General (DG) and Kroger (KR) may provide insight into the consumer's tenacity.
