S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Set For Mixed Open? US Stock Futures Seek Direction After Fed's First Rate Hike In Three Years

On Thursday, all three benchmark indexes closed higher after a dip in oil prices and lower long-dated yields following the Fed’s rate-hike move.

• Rebecca Walser, CEO of Walser Wealth Management, said in an interview with Schwab Network that Warsh played the “status quo Fed Chair” on Wednesday by hiking rates, adding that the Fed’s 2% inflation target “will never happen.”
• Despite recent concerns about the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and safety worries, technology stocks rallied on Thursday.
• Fed officials Michelle Bowman and Jeffrey Schmid are due to speak Friday, with investors seeking insight into the unanimous decision to raise interest rates at Wednesday’s meeting.

U.S. stock futures were trading mixed in the overnight session late Thursday after benchmark indexes closed higher following the Federal Reserve’s first rate hike in three years. 

Dow futures climbed 0.02%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.06%, and the Nasdaq-100 edged 0.19% lower at 10:31 PM EDT.  

On Thursday, all three benchmark indexes closed higher after a dip in oil prices and long-dated yields following the Fed’s rate-hike move. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.61% at close, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.14% and 1.69%, respectively. 

Index	Move	Close
Dow Jones Industrial Average	0.61%	51,778.04
S&P 500	1.14%	7,637.76
Nasdaq Composite	1.69%	26,418.30

Key US Market Drivers

U.S. markets surged after the central bank hiked interest rates by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75% to 4.00%. 

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s comments also suggested another rate hike could be coming this year, though he did not provide explicit forward guidance. 

The central bank said rising inflation, which has remained above the Fed’s 2% target rate for five and a half years, was a primary reason for hiking rates. 

Rebecca Walser, CEO of Walser Wealth Management, said in an interview with Schwab Network that Warsh played the “status quo Fed Chair” on Wednesday by hiking rates, adding that the Fed’s 2% inflation target “will never happen” amid the current capital expenditures from AI companies and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. 

The U.S. national debt officially crossed the historic $40 trillion milestone in August, with annual net interest payments soaring past $1.1 trillion. 

Meanwhile, despite recent concerns about the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and safety worries, technology stocks rallied on Thursday. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) stock jumped more than 2.5% at close, while other chipmakers like Micron Technologies (MU) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also surged more than 5% and 6% each. All the Magnificent Seven stocks also jumped higher at the close. 

Walser called the concerns “fear-mongering,” adding that markets “have to be invested in the technology revolution,” despite potential volatility ahead of the mid-term elections. 

Meanwhile, oil prices declined, with Brent crude futures expiring in November down 0.70% to $104.09 a barrel at the time of writing, while WTI crude futures expiring in October were trading at $101.35 per barrel.

Long-dated Treasury Yields also cooled following the Fed’s rate hike decision. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was trading at 4.935% at the time of writing, down from its 5% levels earlier, while the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield was trading at 5.28%. 

Meanwhile, Fed officials Michelle Bowman and Jeffrey Schmid are due to speak Friday, with investors seeking insight into the unanimous decision to raise interest rates at Wednesday’s meeting.

Trending Stocks To Watch 

BlackBerry Ltd. (BB): Shares jumped nearly 4% at the close on Thursday and continued to climb in the overnight session after Sift announced a partnership with QNX, a division of BlackBerry, to enable real-time data streaming. 

CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV): Shares were on the retail radar after the company made three separate announcements before markets opened on Thursday, disclosing new compute contracts at roughly $40 million per megawatt, along with two capital raises.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (RARE): The pharmaceutical stock jumped more than 12% at close on Thursday after U.S. regulators approved its Fayuvi, the first treatment for Sanfilippo syndrome type A.

Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER): The ride-sharing app garnered attention after Lucid Group (LCID) announced a new robotaxi partnership with ride-hailing platform Bolt in Europe. Lucid already has a partnership with Uber and Nuro to deploy at least 35,000 Lucid vehicles as part of Uber’s U.S. robotaxi program.

Other Market Trends 

Among ETFs tracking benchmark indexes, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) climbed lower in the overnight session.

The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) was up 0.14% amid ‘bearish’ sentiment. 

Asian markets opened higher on Friday. South Korea's KOSPI, Japan’s Nikkei 225, China’s SSE Composite and Australian stocks were all trading in the green at the time of writing. 

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