US stock futures steady as rate cut cheer grows

U.S. stock index futures rose slightly in evening deals on Wednesday, extending gains from Wall Street as the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s recent meeting fueled growing conviction that the central bank will cut rates.

More signs of a cooling labor market also factored into expectations for rate cuts, with the Fed now widely expected to begin acting from September.

S&P 500 Futures steadied at 5,463.0 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.1% to 19,927.50 points by 19:22 ET (23:22 GMT). Dow Jones Futures were flat at 41,019.0 points.

Fed minutes further rate cut expectations, Wall St advances
The minutes of the Fed’s late-July meeting, released on Wednesday, showed an increasing number of policymakers supported lowering interest rates amid progress in bringing down inflation.

The central bank had struck a largely dovish tone during the meeting, with Wednesday’s minutes furthering this notion. A dovish outlook for the Fed saw traders maintain their bets on a September rate cut, although they were split over a 25 or 50 basis point reduction.

Wall Street advanced, albeit slowly, after Wednesday’s minutes. Labor data showing slower than initially reported growth in employment this year also furthered expectations for a cut, given that a cooling labor market is also a key consideration for the Fed.

Analysts at Citi said they see a 50 bps reduction as their base case for September, especially after Wednesday’s minutes showed more officials leaning towards lower rates.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 5,620.85 points on Wednesday, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.6% to 17,817.99 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 40,890.49 points.

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Powell set to speak at Jackson Hole
Gains in Wall Street were held back by anticipation of an address by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday.

Markets widely expect Powell to reiterate the central bank’s dovish stance, setting the stage for a September rate cut, although it remained unclear whether the Fed Chair will explicitly telegraph a September cut.

After hours movers: Paramount rises on new offer, Snowflake falls
Among major after hours movers, Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) rose nearly 3% after media executive Edgar Bronfman raised his offer for the firm and Shari Redstone’s National Amusements to $6 billion from $4.3 billion.

Paramount’s board said it was considering the offer, putting Bronfman in running with Skydance for control of the studio.

Cloud company Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW) fell 6% after its quarterly net loss widened and it posted an underwhelming outlook for the year, amid rising costs and muted demand for its artificial intelligence offerings.