Futures tick higher ahead of Powell’s speech

Sept 8 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday after a broad market rebound in the previous session, with investors looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech for clues on monetary policy tightening plans.

Wall Street’s main indexes climbed the most in about a month on Wednesday as bond yields retreated after a recent surge that was driven by expectations of hawkish central bank policies.

Still, the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) remains nearly 8% away from its August peak and is down about 17% year-to-date.

Hawkish remarks from Fed officials and recent data signaling strength in the U.S. economy have pushed money markets to bet on an 80% chance that the Fed will hike interest rates by another 75 basis points at this month’s meeting. read more

Goldman Sachs, too, raised its policy rate forecast to a 75 basis point hike this month from 50 basis points previously. read more

Powell may also shape expectations about what is to come when he speaks on Thursday, in what are likely to be his final public comments before this month’s policy meeting. He is scheduled to speak at 9:10 a.m. ET.

Concerns over a recession, stirred by aggressive central bank rate hikes and signs of economic slowdown in China and Europe, have dented the appetite for risk assets globally this year.

Data at 8:30 a.m. ET is expected to show 240,000 jobless claims were filed in the U.S. for the week ended September 3. read more

At 07:26 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 35 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.75 points, or 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 3.5 points, or 0.03%.

GameStop Corp (GME.N) rose 7.1% in premarket trading after the video game retailer reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss. read more

American Eagle Outfitters Inc (AEO.N) slumped 15.3% after the retailer missed second-quarter profit estimates and said it would pause quarterly dividend as it fortifies its finances against a hit from inflation. read more

Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty

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