By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Friday, pausing after the previous session’s rally set Wall Street’s main indexes on track for weekly gains following the Federal Reserve’s pivotal stance on monetary policy earlier in the week.
The notched its eighth session of gains out of nine on Thursday and closed at an all-time high, breaching its earlier milestone from mid-July. The blue-chip Dow also clinched a record high and settled above the psychological level of 42,000 points.
The indexes along with the tech-heavy Nasdaq are on track for weekly gains of over 1%. The S&P 500 is set to buck the historical trend of September being weaker for U.S. equities on average.
At 7:12 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 7 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 18 points, or 0.31% and E-minis were down 101 points, or 0.50%.
Risk appetite got a boost earlier in the week after the Fed kicked off its easing cycle with an oversized 50-basis-point cut and assured that more were on the way. The central bank also projected a period of steady economic growth and low unemployment and inflation.
“We appear to be in the benign scenario where the Fed is cutting rates outside of a recession. Historically, that has been a very good combination for equities,” analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a note.
Traders now see a 59.7% probability of a 25 bps cut in November, as per the CME Group’s (NASDAQ:) FedWatch tool. Expectations are that rates will drop by 72 bps by year-end, as per LSEG data.
Investor focus will remain on remarks from Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker later in the day in the absence of major economic data.
Some market volatility is expected in the day, as options and futures linked to stock indexes and individual stocks are set to expire simultaneously on the third Friday of the last month of the quarter, in an event called “triple witching”.
Among top movers in premarket trading, FedEx (NYSE:) plunged 13.1% after the postal service company, often seen as a bellwether to the U.S. economy, reported a steep drop in quarterly profit and lowered its full-year revenue forecast. Rival United Parcel Service (NYSE:) slipped 2.6%.
Nike (NYSE:) jumped 6% after the sportswear giant said that former senior executive Elliott Hill will rejoin the company to succeed John Donahoe as president and CEO.
Trump Media & Technology shares, majority owned by former U.S. President Donald Trump, fell 4.2% after the expiry of its lock-up period that lifts restrictions on insiders to sell the company’s stock.
A rebalancing of the main indexes is also expected. Dell (NYSE:) dipped nearly 1%, Palantir Technologies (NYSE:) fell 2.2% with the stocks expected to join the S&P 500 before the market opens on Sept. 23.
Globally, investors mulled whether the world’s dominant economy is set to boom or face a recession. Central banks in the UK and Japan took a more cautious stance on interest rates, days after the Fed’s verdict.
Historically, equities have performed well in a rate cutting cycle as lower borrowing costs could ease pressures on corporate profits. However, the outlook appears bleak with the S&P 500’s valuations high above its longterm average.
