US pre-open: Modest gains for futures on news of Chinese stimulus, Jackson Hole ahead

Stock market futures are pointing higher after Beijing announced a one trillion yuan fiscal stimulus plan overnight.

As at 1226 BST, futures tracking the Dow Jones were higher by 99.0 points to 33,057.0, while those for the Nasdaq-100 were ahead by 97.0 points to 13,026.75.

Nevertheless, the gains were modest as investors bid their time ahead of the start of the central banking symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, scheduled for later in the day.

And for Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, Chinese authorities' approach towards fiscal spending remained too cautious.

"Lockdowns have further undermined confidence and made hitting the 5.5% growth target all but impossible," he wrote in a note sent to clients.

"It's going to take something much bolder to repair the damage and as it stands, a cautious approach to monetary and fiscal policy is all there is an appetite for."

The latest news out of China were part and parcel of the fluid economic backdrop against which central bankers had to set policy, with the recent passage of new fiscal stimulus in Washington and near-term upside risks to oil and grain prices, as per some analysts in the case of the latter, were other cases in point.

All in all, over the last few weeks a smattering of better-than-expected economic data had seen market commentary shift towards expectations that in his speech, on Friday, Federal Reserve President, Jerome Powell, would make the case that rates were likely to remain higher for longer.

In any case, traders were primed for volatility in markets should Powell surprise in one direction or another.

Shares of Nvidia were down by over 3% after the chip-maker warned overnight that sales in its fiscal third quarter were set to come in at around $5.9bn or around $1.0bn below the consensus, amid slowing demand for the chips used in gaming computers.

In parallel, its data center business delivered lower-than-expected sales for the company's second quarter due to ongoing supply chain disruptions.

Shares of Peloton were crumbling alongside, dropping by 16% after the maker of at-home gym equipment posted a quarterly loss of $1.2bn.

Dollar Tree wasn't faring much better with its shares off by 10% after guiding towards weaker-than-expected outcomes for its full-year earnings per share and sales.

Still ahead for later in the day, at 1330 BST the Department of Labor was set to release weekly jobless claims data while the Department of Commerce was to publish its revisions for second quarter GDP growth.