US pre-open: Stock futures higher as Powell opens the door for rate cuts

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Thursday as comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and earnings from social media giant Facebook's parent company were firmly in focus.

As of 1330 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.07%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.44% and 0.46% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 99.46 points higher on Wednesday as hawkish comments from the head of the Federal Reserve ignited stocks with hopes rising for an interest-rate cut at the central bank's next meeting in September.

The Fed's two-day policy meeting concluded on Wednesday with no change in policy, as was widely anticipated, but Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank would be prepared to loosen monetary policy at its next meeting if price pressures continue to ease.

"A reduction in the policy rate could be on the table as soon as the next meeting in September," Powell said. "We're getting closer to the point at which it'll be appropriate to reduce our policy rate, but we're not quite at that point."

In the corporate space, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms delivered stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings after the close, with both revenue and profits coming in ahead of estimates at $39.07bn and $5.16 per share, respectively.

Going the other way, Arm Holdings shares were firmly in the red in pre-market trading after offering up underwhelming current-quarter guidance, while confectionary group Hershey also traded lower on the back of Q2 earnings that fell short of expectations on the Street.

On the macro front, Challenger Gray & Christmas revealed that US employers shed 25,855 jobs in July, a 46.9% month-on-month drop to the lowest level in a year. The tech sector cut the most jobs, slashing 6,009 roles, while the services sector cut another 2,932.

Still to come, weekly jobless claims data, as well as a preliminary reading of Q2's nonfarm productivity report, will be published at 1330 BST, while S&P Global's July manufacturing PMI will follow at 1445 BST, and June construction spending figures and ISM's July manufacturing PMI were both slated for release at 1500 BST.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com