Stock futures rose Wednesday as Wall Street awaits a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 38 points, or 0.14%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
Powell will give a speech at the Brookings Institution that may give insight into the central bank’s thinking on future increases. The Fed is slated to meet next week and is largely expected to deliver a smaller 0.5 percentage point rate hike after four consecutive 0.75 percentage point increases to tame high inflation. A pause in rate hikes, or a pivot would likely send markets higher.
“This is a Fed-made recession, so eventually when he does pivot, the market should move higher pretty quickly,” said Steve Grasso, CEO of Grasso Global, on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”
Wall Street is coming off a mixed session. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.59% and the S&P 500 lost 0.16%, their third negative day in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a marginal gain, closing 3.07 points, or 0.01%, higher.
Stocks have been weighed down by China’s zero-Covid policy and have failed to fully recover from losses even as the country announced steps toward reopening, such as an uptick in vaccination rates for the elderly.
On the data front, the ADP private payrolls report will come out Wednesday, as will the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for October. Pending home sales and the Fed’s Beige Book will also be released Wednesday, giving further clues about the state of the U.S. economy.
Earnings season continues as well, with Salesforce, Petco and Five Below on deck.