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Investing.com – U.S. stocks are set to open a little lower Thursday, with investors warily pausing for breath after the previous session’s substantial selloff. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell remains in the spotlight amid concerns about the economic recovery.
At 7:20 AM ET (1120 GMT), S&P 500 Futures traded 5 points, or 0.2%, lower, the Dow Futures contract fell 12 points, or 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 42 points, or 0.4%.
At the close Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.9% to hit its lowest level since the beginning of August, while the S&P 500 index fell 2.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite index fell 3%. These benchmark indices are on track for their worst week in two months.
So far in September the S&P 500 has declined 7.5%, while the DJIA has shed 5.8%. The Nasdaq Composite has been the weakest performer, registering a loss of 9.7% as investors rotate out of the big tech stocks.
Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell continues his speaking marathon later Thursday, appearing along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin before the Senate banking committee.
Powell, along with a number of his Fed colleagues, appealed Wednesday for more fiscal aid from Congress amid fears that the U.S. economic recovery will stagnate.
However, this additional stimulus looks unlikely with Washington as divided as ever, particularly after President Donald Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has cut its U.S. growth forecast for the fourth quarter to 3% from 6%, as “we think it is now clear that Congress will not attach additional fiscal stimulus to the continuing resolution.”
Amid worries about further growth, investors will focus on the weekly release of initial jobless claims, at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT). These are expected to come in around 840,000 for last week, not much different than the week before, suggesting a stagnating employment market. Continuing claims, which are reported at the same time, are expected to be around 12.3 million.
New home sales for August are also due at 10 AM ET, and are expected to be in the neighborhood of 895,000, about even with July.
In corporate news, Accenture (NYSE:ACN) missed forecasts with its quarterly earnings, while CarMax (NYSE:KMX), Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) and FactSet Research are all set to report. The tech sector will remain in the spotlight after recent sharp losses.
Oil prices weakened Thursday despite official data showing crude inventories falling by 1.6 million barrels last week, on concerns the economic recovery in the United States, the world’s biggest oil consumer, is slowing.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $39.97 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.1% to $41.83.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,858.95/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.1647, having hit a two-month low on Wednesday.
