US pre-open: Wall Street set for slight gains ahead of Yellen testimony
Wall Street was set for a slightly higher start ahead of key testimony on monetary policy from the head of its central bank.
As of 1331 BST futures were pointing to a 28.0 point gain on the Dow Jones Industrials to 21,395.0, alongside a 3.25 point advance for the S&P 500 to 2,427.75 and a rise of 14.50 points in the Nasdaq-100.
Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen was scheduled to deliver her semi-annual testimony to the US House of Representatives's Financial Services Committee at 1500 BST.
Traders were expected to carefully parse her words for any hint that the Fed might tweak its medium-term policy strategy given the recent slowdown in price pressures.
"All eyes turn to Janet Yellen and the Bank of Canada this afternoon, as the former gives testimony to US lawmakers and the latter announces its latest policy decision. Canadian dollar bulls have run rampant over the past two months, but with the news so widely-known an impact is likely to be muted, unless the central bank is much more hawkish than expected.
"Meanwhile, Janet Yellen might get some awkward questions about her future, as talk mounts that NEC chairman Gary Cohn is the current favourite to replace her," Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG wrote to clients.
To take note of, Bank of Canada was expected to announce its interest rate decision just as Yellen took her seat.
Acting as a backdrop, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was higher by three basis points to 2.33%.
The Fed's Beige book was set for release later in the day at 1900 BST.
Shares of American Airlines were in the black ahead of the opening bell after the carrier lifted its outlook for total revenues per available seat mile in the second quarter.
Construction supplies outfit Fastenal posted second quarter earnings per share of 52 cents (consensus: 50 cents) on sales of $1.12bn (consensus: $1.1bn).
Stock in Cara Therapeutics jumped after the firm announced positive results in an early-stage trial of a treatment for chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus sufferers.