Wall Street futures rise as focus shifts to major earnings, Fed meeting
NEW YORK : US stock index futures edged higher today as investors awaited earnings reports from a number of companies and the Federal Reserve's policy meeting that starts later in the day.
At 5.19am, Dow E-minis were up 73 points, or 0.16%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 15.25 points, or 0.24%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 93.25 points, or 0.4%.
The moves follow record closing highs for the S&P and the Nasdaq yesterday in volatile trading after the US struck a trade agreement with the EU, while the Dow remained just about 200 points short of an all-time high.
The US-EU deal, announced on Sunday, halved EU import tariffs to 15% and bolstered expectations that more such agreements will follow ahead of President Donald Trump's looming Aug 1 deadline.
Yesterday, Trump flagged a 'world tariff' of 15%-20% for countries that were not negotiating a deal.
Expectations were high for a potential breakthrough in US-China negotiations after officials from both sides met in Stockholm yesterday to resolve longstanding economic disputes as the two economies look to extend a truce by three months.
Today also marks a busy day for corporate earnings, with results expected from top companies such as United Health, Boeing, UPS and Procter & Gamble before the bell.
Earnings from tech heavyweights Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple are scheduled for later this week, which could test Wall Street's record run.
The US central bank is set to begin its two-day policy meeting later in the day.
While the Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged tomorrow, traders will closely analyse policymakers' remarks to gauge the timing of future moves.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are pricing in a 61.7% chance of a rate cut in September.
The meetings come amid the White House's campaign on the central bank to lower borrowing costs, including Trump's persistent criticism of Fed chair Jerome Powell and occasional suggestions to remove him from his position.
Meanwhile, investors will parse the US job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS) report for June, as well as the consumer confidence figure for July later in the day.
Among earnings-related moves, Cadence Design jumped 6.6% in premarket trading after the chip design software provider raised its annual sales and profit forecast.
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