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U.S. stock index futures were steady on Friday after the previous session’s slide, when worries about interest rates again pressured equities.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.13%
rose 94 points, or 0.3%, to 36083 -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
+0.05%
rose 7 points, or 0.2%, to 4659 -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
-0.06%
fell 4 points, a fractional percentage decline, to 15486
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
fell 177 points, or 0.49%, to 36114, the S&P 500
SPX,
declined 67 points, or 1.42%, to 4659, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
dropped 382 points, or 2.51%, to 14807.
What’s driving markets
Comments from several Federal Reserve speakers this week showed central bank officials were thinking about making as many as five interest rate hikes in 2022, though three increases is what the dot plot of economic projections by policymakers is currently forecasting.
“The three-day U.S. tech rally fell apart, despite Treasury yields moving lower, following a selection of updates from Fed speakers in the past couple of days,” said Ian Williams, a strategist at U.K. broker Peel Hunt.
New York Fed President John Williams, a key official, is due to speak Friday, and there also will be the release of U.S. December retail sales and University of Michigan consumer sentiment data.
Earnings reporting season unofficially starts as well on Friday, with several major banks including JPMorgan Chase
JPM,
and Wells Fargo
WFC,
each reporting stronger fourth-quarter earnings than forecast.
