US futures mixed: Dow Jones futures lose 0.23% to 33,616 points; those on the Nasdaq are up by 0.13% to 14,174 points, while those on the S&P drop 0.20% to 4,240.
Yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 210 points (-0.62%), to 33,823.45 points, the S&P 500 closed almost unchanged, – 0.04% to 4,221.86 points, while the Nasdaq Composite was up by 0.87% at 14,161.35 points.
Wall Street is preparing to report a mixed trend also on a weekly basis: the Dow Jones has lost 1.9% since the beginning of the week, the worst loss since January. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.65%.
The week in which the Fed was the undisputed market mover is coming to an end, with the FOMC meeting on June 16-17, culminating in a roundup of announcements and statements by President Jerome Powell.
The Fed announced yesterday that it had left the fed funds target unchanged at the range between zero and 0.25%, however indicating that rates could be raised as early as 2023, after saying in March that it does not see the need for any monetary tightening at least until 2024.
From the dot plot – a document that indicates the expectations of each member of the FOMC, the monetary policy arm of the Fed – it emerged that the expectations of the US central bank are, on average, of two rate hikes in 2023.
“Inflation has risen dramatically and will remain high,” said Jerome Powell, acknowledging that “there is a possibility that inflationary pressures will persist.”
For this reason, “if we saw signs of inflation that was persistently moving above the target, we would be ready to adjust the position of monetary policy”. At the same time, Powell urged the markets to take what emerged from the dot plot cum grano salis: a clarification that further confused the markets.
The week is about to end on a positive note for the technology sector.
In the pre-market, the increases of Nvidia and Adobe are highlighted. The giants of extraction are also making a comeback, benefiting from the recovery of raw materials.
The strengthening of the dollar and the move by China, which announced a plan to free up reserves of some commodities such as copper and aluminum, caused a bloodbath in the commodities sector yesterday. Futures on palladium and platinum prices fell by more than -11% and -7%, respectively, corn futures fell by nearly 6% and copper-related contracts lost nearly 5%. Prices are recovering today, but the recovery is not enough to avoid the sector’s negative trend on a weekly basis.
Yesterday is a day to forget also for oil prices, which among other things continue to point downwards even today, still resisting above the psychological threshold of 70 dollars.
US Treasury rates do not seem to discount the fear of an early Fed tapering or an earlier-than-expected rate hike, remaining below the 1.5% threshold: it is more the dollar that has seen a strong recovery in the last few hours , climbing 1.6% since the beginning of the week (reference to the Dollar Index) and jumping to the record of the last two months. The euro is barely moved today, just above the $ 1.19 threshold, and is preparing to close the worst week since October.