By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally higher Thursday, rebounding after a losing streak, with investors cautiously digesting signals of aggressive central bank policy tightening and the likely impact on economic growth.
At 7 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 15 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 10 points, or 0.2%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 65 points, or 0.3%.
The main Wall Street indices closed lower Wednesday, the second consecutive losing day, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping nearly 150 points, or 0.4%, the broad-based S&P 500 falling 1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite over 2%.
These losses followed the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting in March, the gathering which saw the U.S. central bank hike interest rates for the first time since 2018.
The Fed policymakers signaled they were prepared to act more quickly than previously suggested, planning to shrink its balance sheet by more than $1 trillion a year while raising interest rates “expeditiously” to counter rampant inflation.
The central bank next meets in May, and investors will likely study the employment and inflation data carefully ahead of this, starting with weekly jobless claims data, at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT). This release is expected to show claims of only 200,000 last week, indicative of a vibrant labor market.
Additionally, FOMC members James Bullard, Raphael Bostic, and John Williams are scheduled to offer their thoughts on the economic outlook during the session.
In corporate news, Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) will be in the spotlight after the jeans retailer impressed with its quarterly earnings after the close Wednesday, while HP (NYSE:HPQ) stock is seen sharply higher premarket after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) disclosed it had bought a $4.2 billion stake in the company.
Oil prices rebounded Thursday after Wednesday’s sharp losses on the back of International Energy Agency member countries confirming that they would release 60 million barrels of oil, adding to the 180-million-barrel release announced by the United States last week.
Adding to Wednesday’s woes, data from the Energy Information Administration showing crude inventories rose by over 2 million barrels last week, the first climb in three weeks, raising questions about energy demand in the world’s largest oil-consuming country.
By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.5% higher at $97.67 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 1.5% to $102.57. Both benchmarks settled more than 5% lower on Wednesday, falling to a three-week low.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,927.60/oz, while EUR/USD traded largely flat at 1.0892.