Stock market news live updates: Stock futures open slightly lower as investors await jobless claims
Stock futures opened slightly lower Wednesday evening as investors awaited the Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims report and another handful of earnings results before the bell.
Federal Open Market Committee’s July meeting minutes, as well as officials’ apparent unreadiness to clearly signal their guidance on the path forward for interest rates at their next meeting. Policymakers also appeared to shirk the prospects of adopting formal yield curve targets in the near-term.
US central bankers agreed that “the ongoing public health crisis would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term and was posing considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term.”” data-reactid=”22″>On the US economy, US central bankers agreed that “the ongoing public health crisis would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term and was posing considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term.”
“Despite evident concerns that the resurgence in infections could weigh on the economy, the majority of officials were content to wait for more incoming information,” Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics chief US economist, said in a note. “With the infection rate falling again, there may be less urgency to add to the monetary policy stimulus. But the other thing that stands out from the minutes is that Fed officials still believe ‘strong fiscal policy support’ is ‘necessary to encourage expeditious improvements in labor market condition. With Congress failing to extend the fiscal stimulus, more of the burden will fall to monetary policy.”
Labor Department’s weekly unemployment claims report. Consensus economists expect another 920,000 individuals filed new jobless claims last week, coming in below the 1 million mark for a second time since the start of the pandemic, but holding still well above the pre-pandemic record of 665,000 new claims from March 2009.
TGT) rallied 12.7% to close at a record high Wednesday, after the big-box retailer reported its fastest-ever sales growth in the second quarter, driven by a 195% surge in e-commerce sales. Shares added mostly to gains in late trading. Lowe’s (LOW) shares closed modestly higher, but hovered near the flat line after the home-improvement giant reported a 35% jump in US DIY comparable sales, driven by a surge in consumers taking on redecorating projects during the pandemic.
BABA), Estée Lauder (EL), BJs Wholesale Club Holdings (BJ) are set to report quarterly earnings results.
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6:01 p.m. ET Wednesday: Stock futures open slightly lower
Here were the main moves in equity markets, as of 6:01 p.m. ET:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,370.25, down 2.5 points or 0.07%
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Dow futures (YM=F): 27,628.00, down 4 points, or 0.01%
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 11,326.5, down 5.5 points, or 0.05%
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