Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, March 21, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Equity futures rose higher in overnight trading after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is open to higher rate hikes to curb rising inflation.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 40 points. S&P 500 futures were up 0.08% and Nasdaq 100 futures were flat.
Nike shares rose 6% in expanded trading Monday after the retailer reported top and bottom line gains in the third quarter, supported by strong demand in North America.
Monday’s trading session was volatile as Powell pledged to take “necessary steps” to curb inflation, less than a week after the agency raised rates for the first time since 2018. Powell said “inflation is way too high” and added that rates could rise more. than the previously approved 25 basis points if necessary.
During regular trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 201.94 points, or 0.6%, breaking a five-day winning streak. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished marginally lower after gaining as much as 0.4% during the session, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% to 13,838.46 after dips as low as 1.5% at session lows.
“I’m quite encouraged that the market has bounced back quite well in the last hour of trading,” Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research and chief investment strategist, told CNBC’s Closing Bell: Overtime on Monday.
“I think the market is looking for opportunities and the opportunities continue to emerge in areas like energy and commodities. I think the market will also find more opportunities in the financial sector as interest rates rise and technology looks very cheap to me he added.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose again on Monday after news that the European Union is considering a ban on Russian oil. West Texas Intermediate and Brent oil were both up about 7%, reaching $112.12 and $115.62 a barrel. During the rally, energy stocks, including Occidental Petroleum and Marathon Oil, rose 8% each.
Investors continued to monitor the situation in Eastern Europe on Monday as ongoing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine failed to progress and Ukraine refused to surrender the port city of Mariupol to Russian forces. Market watchers are also keeping an eye on the ommicron sub-variant as it spreads across Europe, along with one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in China since 2020.
Buzzfeed will report earnings before the bell Tuesday, followed by Poshmark and Adobe after the bell.
This post Stock futures one inch higher after Powell says bigger gains are possible was original published at “https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/21/stock-market-futures-open-to-close-news.html”
