Scott Olson
Stock index ticked higher on Thursday as investors readied to juggle more earnings, data, yield moves and Fed speak.
Nasdaq 100 futures (NDX:IND) were +0.2%, S&P futures (SPX) were near even, and Dow futures (INDU) were flat.
Growth got a boost from Netflix (NFLX), which after reporting strong subscriber growth and that it’s raising prices. That was tempered by Tesla (TSLA), which fell as CEO Elon Musk tempered expectations on the Cybertruck.
Rates continued to march higher. The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) rose 6 basis points to 4.97%. It’s up nearly 50 basis points since the start of October. The 2-year yield (US2Y) rose 3 basis points to 5.25%.
“Investors have continued to price out the chance of rate cuts from the Fed any time soon, with futures for the December 2024 meeting putting the implied rate at a new cycle high this morning of 4.83%,” Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid said.
Fed chief Jay Powell speaks at the Economic Club of New York at noon ET.
People will be looking for “whether he chimes in with some of the more moderate tones of late that had pointed to the steep rise of longer rates doing some of the Fed’s work,” ING said. “The need for drastic communications change looks limited, though.”
“With regards to the upcoming meeting on 1 November, it does not look like the market needs any particular guidance. Pricing only a minimal chance for a hike, minds appear largely made up. Guidance beyond the upcoming meeting is unlikely to change very much as we see little reason for the Fed to give up optionality for a further hike.”
On the data front, weekly initial jobless claims arrived at 198K versus the expected 212K figure.
At the same time the September Philly Fed index came in at -9 versus the forecasted -6.4 level.
Shortly, numbers on September existing home sales are out. Economists expect a drop to a rate of 3.89M.
