US pre-open: Stocks seen down as investors eye Powell again

US stock futures pointed to weaker open on Wall Street on Thursday as investors eyed the second day of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony.

At 1230 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all down 0.3%.

Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets, said: "With the market now under no illusion that US monetary policy still has a way further to go, there’s a degree of understandable consolidation taking place.

"Wall Street futures are suggesting we’ll see a softer start to Thursday’s session as a result and it seems unlikely that the second day of Federal Reserve testimonies in Washington will be able to shore up the downside pressures being seen.

"Home sales data for May is likely to be robust given the upbeat housing starts already noted and yesterday’s bigger than expected draw in API crude oil reserves is setting the pace for the EIA data due later in the session. Adding this to the resurgent soft commodities prices which are being seen and again it adds up to point at fresh inflationary pressures as the second half of the year plays out."

Mahony called the Dow down 75 points at 33,877 and the S&P 11 points lower at 4,355.

On the corporate front, Tesla was likely to fall at the open after a downgrade to ‘equalweight’ by Morgan Stanley.