(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Wednesday after two sessions of losses as investors assessed the outlook for interest rates amid signs of resilience in the U.S. economy.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq index on Tuesday marked its longest losing streak since November 2016, while the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow closed at a seven-week low on worries over the prospect of tighter U.S. monetary policy to suppress inflation.
The equities selloff has gained momentum in September after hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and signs of an economic slowdown in Europe and China.
Powell’s speech on Thursday as well U.S. consumer price data next week will be parsed for clues on the path of monetary policy.
Recent data has highlighted momentum in U.S. factory and services activity as well as the labor market, prompting traders to place nearly 75% bets on a 75 basis point interest rate hike by the Fed later in September.
Apple Inc edged 0.3% higher in premarket trading ahead of the unveiling of its new range of iPhone models and Apple Watches.
Nio Inc fell 4.2% after the Chinese electric vehicle maker reported wider second-quarter adjusted net loss compared with a year earlier.
Coupa Software Inc jumped 11.6% after the payment management software firm following beat second-quarter estimates for revenue and profit.
United Airlines Holdings inched up 1% after the carrier said it was expecting a small improvement in current-quarter costs and capacity.
At 07:06 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 32 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.75 points, or 0.12%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 16.75 points, or 0.14%.
Meanwhile, Walmart Inc, Target Corp and McDonald’s Corp were among retailers that announced bond offerings in a busy post-Labor Day session.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
