U.S. stock futures climb ahead of Fed outcome, more earnings – MarketWatch

How are stock-index futures trading?

• S&P 500 futures
  ES00
  jumped 1.4% to 4,413

• Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
  YM00
  rose 1% to 34,569

• Nasdaq Composite futures
  NQ00
  surged 2% to 14,441

On Tuesday, the Dow industrials
DJIA
fell 66.77 points, or 0.2%, to close at 34,297.73. The index saw a more than 800-point drop at its session low early Tuesday, followed by a rise in the afternoon. The S&P 500 
SPX
declined 53.68 points, or 1.2%, to end at 4,356.45 after a brief spell in correction territory. The Nasdaq Composite 
COMP
 dropped 315.83 points, or 2.3%, to finish at 13,539.29.

Read: It’s Jerome Powell time — and one Wall Street bank warns the S&P 500 could fall another 20%. Goldman Sachs says the bull market will continue.

What’s driving the markets?

Investors have been whipsawed by recent volatility in equity markets, driven by disappointment over corporate earnings so far this quarter, tension between Russia and NATO over Ukraine, COVID-19 worries and, most of all, apprehension over the extent of Fed monetary policy tightening to come.

“Yesterday, major U.S. indices went from tears to laughter then back to tears, again,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, in a note to clients. “As such, seeking a dip has become a difficult exercise, and the strong corporate results have a little impact on the market’s bad faith these days.”

Fears over tighter Fed policy have been reflected in the Nasdaq, down 13% this month. It fell into correction territory last week, down more than 10% from its record high in November. Dominated by interest-rate-sensitive growth stocks, the index has suffered blows from rising Treasury yields.

Markets largely expect the first Fed interest-rate hike won’t arrive until March, but Wednesday’s outcome and comments will still garner close attention. A decision will be announced at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, followed by a news conference with Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.

“It’s probably soon time to chill for the Fed hawks, as the Fed hasn’t got anything to gain in sending out hawkish messages today: slaughtered equity markets won’t help them to get the inflation situation straight. On the contrary, a deep dive in the financial markets would only refrain the Fed from doing what it’s got to do and worsen inflation,” added Ozkardeskaya.

Data released Tuesday showed slippage in consumer confidence, on the back of rising prices and the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Apart from the Fed outcome, an advance report on trade in goods is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, followed by new home sales starts at 10 a.m. Eastern, both for December.

Investors are sifting through a fresh batch of earnings, with a busy after-hours calednar as well, as Tesla , Intel
INTC,
Whirlpool
WHR
and Xilinx
XLNX
are all due to report.

Microsoft
MSFT
sales topped $50 billion for the first time in its fiscal second quarter, as it reported earnings late Tuesday. Stocks initially fell, then rebounded after the company’s strong revenue forecast for the current quarter. Shares rose 3.5% in premarket trading.

Opinion: Microsoft stock’s post-earnings roller-coaster ride won’t be the last

The standoff between Russia and Western powers continued, amid concerns Moscow is planning an imminent invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian government warned Wednesday it would turn to “retaliatory measures” if the U.S. and its allies reject its security demands and continue “aggressive” policies.”

Which companies are in focus?

• Texas Instruments Inc. shares
  TXN
  jumped 4% in premarket trading after the chip group’s earnings topped Wall Street expectations.

• AT&T Inc.
  T
  stock rose more than 1% after the telecommunications topped earnings expectations.

• Boeing Co. stock
  BA
  traded choppy, but was last up 1% despite the aircraft maker reporting a much bigger-than-expected loss and hefty revenue miss.

• Tesla Inc.
  TSLA
  stock rallies 4% in premarket, following a 7.8% drop from a three-day losing stream through Tuesday. Tesla will report earnings after the closing bell Wednesday.

• Mattel Inc.
  MAT
  shares rose 2% in premarket trading after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing company executives, that the toymaker had won back the rights to produce toys based on film characters from rival Hasbro Inc.
  HAS.

How are other assets trading?

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury note 
  BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
  was steady at 1.781%. Yields and debt prices move opposite each other.

• The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
  DXY,
   a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up around 0.1%.

• Oil futures 
  CL00
  % rose, with West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery up nearly 1% to $86.45 a barrel. Gold futures 
  GC00
  slipped 0.3% to $1,846.90 an ounce, pulling back from a two-month high.

• The Stoxx Europe 600 
  XX:SXXP
   rose 2.1%, while London’s FTSE 100 
  UK:UKX
  gained 1.7%.

• The Shanghai Composite 
  CN:SHCOMP
  rose 0.6%, while the Hang Seng Index 
  HK:HSI
  rose 0.1% in Hong Kong and Japan’s Nikkei 225 
  JP:NIK
  fell 0.4%.