Futures slip at start of holiday-shortened week
HSBC became the latest brokerage to lift its year-end target for the benchmark S&P 500, raising it to 5,400 from the 5,000 it had forecast previously.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (Reuters)
NEW YORK: U.S. stock index futures dipped at the start of a holiday-shortened week on Monday, as investors look ahead to commentary from Federal Reserve officials as well as a key inflation marker later in the week.
Both the S&P 500, opens new tab and the blue-chip Dow, opens new tab logged their best weekly percentage gains so far this year on Friday, with the Fed sticking to its guidance of three interest rate cuts this year.
HSBC became the latest brokerage to lift its year-end target for the benchmark S&P 500, raising it to 5,400 from the 5,000 it had forecast previously.
"The higher target stems from better earnings expectations supported by resilient GDP growth, recent earnings beats, and positive sentiment from corporates in the last earnings season," HSBC strategists said in a note.
"Our target is predicated on the Fed cutting rates in June with 75bp total cuts in 2024, in line with consensus and Fed expectations based on the recent dot plot."
Traders now see a 75% chance of the Fed bringing in the first cut in June, according to the CME FedWatch tool, up from around 55% at the start of last week.
However, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said late on Friday he now expects just a single quarter-point cut instead of the two he had projected, citing persistent inflation and stronger-than-anticipated economic data.
A number of Fed officials, including Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, are set to speak later in the day.
The crucial February reading of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, is due on Friday, when U.S. markets will be shut for the Good Friday holiday.
A hot reading for the PCE index could dent market optimism around early rate cuts.
Final estimates of fourth-quarter GDP and a March consumer confidence reading are also due in the next few days and will round off the last trading week of the March quarter.
At 07:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 68 points, or 0.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 13.5 points, or 0.26%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 73.75 points, or 0.40%.
Intel, opens new tab and Advanced Micro Devices, opens new tab slid 2.8% each in premarket trading following a report that China has introduced guidelines to phase out U.S. microprocessors made by the chipmakers from government personal computers and servers.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks such as exchange operator Coinbase Global, opens new tab, crypto miner Riot Platforms, opens new tab and software firm MicroStrategy, opens new tab added more than 2% each, tracking a more than 5% advance in bitcoin prices.
Most megacap growth stocks edged lower, with Tesla, opens new tab leading the losses.
United Airlines, opens new tab fell 4.2% after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it is increasing its oversight of the company.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden signed a $1.2 trillion spending package into law on Saturday, keeping the U.S. government funded through a fiscal year that began six months ago.