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Stock markets have been roiled in recent weeks as central banks across the world look to aggressively raise borrowing costs to stem a surge in inflation.
With Fed policymakers pushing for large interest rate hikes, traders are now bracing for another 75-basis-point rate hike later in July.
Investors will look for clues on the pace of future rate hikes when the minutes from Fed’s June 14-15 policy meeting are released at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).
The U.S. central bank raised its policy rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, its biggest hike since 1994 at the end of that meeting.
The Ukraine conflict, decades-high inflation and the Fed’s pivot away from easy-money policy pushed the S&P 500 to its steepest first-half percentage drop since 1970. The index is down nearly 20% so far this year.
A key part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve stayed inverted for a second straight day on Wednesday, reflecting growing angst in the world’s biggest bond market over recession risks.
With the second-quarter earnings season around the corner and economic data pointing to a slowdown in consumer spending, investors will be watching out for company forecasts and commentaries to gauge the growth trajectory of the U.S. economy.
A survey from the Institute for Supply Management slated for release at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) is likely to show U.S. services industry activity slowed for the third month in a row.
A slew of data on U.S. employment is also due this week, including the June nonfarm payrolls report on Friday that will be parsed for clues on economic health.
At 6:59 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 35 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.5 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 22.25 points, or 0.19%.
Shares of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 0.2% in premarket trading after Britain’s antitrust watchdog started an investigation into the online retail giant.
Altria Group (NYSE:MO) Inc rose 2.7% after the U.S. health regulator temporarily stayed the marketing denial order on Juul Labs Inc’s e-cigarettes.
Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) Inc and DoorDash Inc fell 2.8% and 6.5%, respectively, after Amazon.com agreed to take a 2% stake in Just Eat Takeaway.com’s struggling U.S. food delivery business Grubhub.
