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U.S. equity futures nudged higher Wednesday, while Treasury yields slipped lower and the dollar steadied, as investors looked to revive Wall Street’s November rally into the Thanksgiving holiday.
Stocks snapped a five-day winning streak last night in thin pre-holiday trading following minutes from the Federal Reserve’s November policy meeting that revived concerns for a near-term rate while echoing some hawkish messaging on inflation risks from recent public comments.
The minutes added some heft to the U.S. dollar, which rose from a near three-month low against a basket of its global peers and added 0.16% in overnight dealing to change hands at 103.729.
The gains didn’t flow-through into the bond market, however, and while a mixed auction of inflation-linked bonds provided some concern, yields were steady throughout the session and slipped lower in overnight trading, taking benchmark 10-year notes to around 4.408% and 2-year paper to around 4.885% heading into the start of the New York session.
Tech stocks are likely to be in focus again Wednesday following a solid third quarter earnings report from AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) – Get Free Report that sent shares lower as it warned that U.S. export restrictions on China-bound gear would ‘significantly’ hit its current quarter sales.
Microsoft (MSFT) – Get Free Report was also on the move, rising around 0.5% in pre-market trading after scoring a big win with the return of OpenAI founder Sam Altman as CEO of the AI market leader, while orchestrating a beefed-up board that ensures its 49% stake is better protected going forward.
With stocks looking at traditionally thin pre-holiday volumes in pre-market trading, Wall Street is looking at a modestly higher open with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 priced for a modest 2 point opening bell gain.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, are indicating a 28 point move to the upside while the tech-focused Nasdaq is called 6 points higher.
In other markets, global oil prices slipped lower ahead of Energy Department data on domestic U.S. stockpiles and exports later in the session, with traders looking to this weekend’s OPEC+ meeting in Vienna to confirm the extension of production cuts from Russia and Saudi Arabia into the start of the new year.
Brent futures contracts for January delivery, the global pricing benchmark, were last seen trading 62 cents lower at $81.82 per barrel while WTI contracts for the same month slipped 64 cents to $77.13 per barrel.
The AAA driving club, meanwhile, pegged the national average for a gallon of gas at $3.281 heading into the busiest travel day of the year, that’s down from $3.55 this time last month and $3.636 on Thanksgiving Day in 2022.
In overseas markets, Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose 0.31% in early Frankfurt trading to lift the regional benchmark to a two-week higher, while Britain’s FTSE 100 was little-changed ahead of a key government budget statement that could include around £20 billion ($25 billion) in new tax cuts to help the country’s post-Brexit economy avoid recession.
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