Yahoo Finance Stocks - U.S. Futures Point to Lower Opening Bell After Fed Rate Cut
Investing.com - U.S. futures fell on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve damped hopes for any further monetary easing on top of Wednesday's rate cut, the second in as many months.
The Fed cut rates by 25 basis points at its policy meeting on Wednesday, largely in line with expectations. Fed Chief Jerome Powell indicated during a press conference that the central bank didn’t expect a slowdown in the economy anytime soon but that "if the economy does turn down, then a more extensive sequence of rate cuts could be appropriate."
Meanwhile trade talks were in focus, as a report in the South China Morning Post encouraged hopes of at least an interim agreement on freezing the U.S.-China trade dispute when the two sides resume face-to-face talks after a two-month hiatus. The meetings are meant to lay the groundwork before high-level talks in early October.
Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 32 points or 0.4% by 6:49 AM ET (10:49 GMT), while Dow Jones 30 Futures lost 66 points or 0.2% and S&P 500 Futures were down 7 points or 0.3%.
AT&T (NYSE:T) gained 0.7% in premarket trade after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company is exploring a spinoff of DirectTV as its own company or in combination with Dish.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)was up 1.3% after increasing its quarterly dividend by 5 cents, bringing it to $0.51 per share. The company also announced a new stock buyback worth up to $40 billion.
Elsewhere, United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) slumped 10.4% after giving weak third-quarter guidance. Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) declined 9% after news that founder Patrick Byrne unloaded his entire stake in the company.
In commodities, crude oil futures jumped 2.1% to $59.26 a barrel after a tweet from Iran’s foreign minister sparked fears of military conflict. Gold futures were down 0.8% to $1,503.75 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, dipped 0.2% to 97.903.
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