U.S. stock futures were pointing Friday to a third day of gains, as investors bet that tough talk from Federal Reserve officials now won’t prevent a pivot down the road.
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, 0.85% rose 228 points, or 0.7%, to 32089.
- Futures on the S&P 500 ES00, 0.92% gained 30.5 points, or 0.8%, to 4036.
- Futures on the Nasdaq 100 NQ00, 1.19% increased 118.25 points, or 1%, to 12516.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.61% rose 193 points, or 0.61%, to 31775, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.66% increased 26 points, or 0.66%, to 4006, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.60% gained 70 points, or 0.6%, to 11862. The S&P 500 has gained 2.5% over the last two sessions. Markets have absorbed two days of hawkish speeches from Federal Reserve officials, as well as 75-basis point rate hikes from the Bank of Canada and the European Central Bank. Some analysts have attributed the gains to a favorable technical picture. There also are expectations the Labor Department will report a month-on-month decline in consumer prices next week, as market-derived measures of inflation expectations also are falling. “We think this remains a setup where downside reads in inflation means Fed has less work to do,” said Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat, in a note to clients. A noon speech from Fed Gov. Christopher Waller, speaking in Austria, is the highlight of a quiet day on the U.S. economics calendar. At the same time, the quarterly flow of funds report from the Fed is due.