Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on September 06, 2022 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
U.S. equity futures were little changed Sunday evening after surging interest rates and foreign currency turmoil pushed the major averages to near their lows of the year.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 22 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were hovering just above the flat line.
On Friday stocks ended a brutal week with the blue-chip Dow finding a new intraday low for the year and closing lower by 486 points. The broad-market S&P 500 temporarily broke below its June closing low and ended down 1.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.8%. The Dow and S&P are about 1.2% and 1.6%, respectively, above their lows from the summer. The Nasdaq is 2.9% above its low.
Investors were reacting to the Federal Reserve’s commitment to its rate hiking plan to help tame inflation. At the conclusion of the FOMC meeting, chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could raise rates as high as 4.6% before pulling back. The forecast also shows the Fed plans to stay aggressive this year, hiking rates to 4.4% before 2022 ends.
“A lot of traders expected hints of a Fed pivot at Jackson Hole or at the September FOMC policy, but that never happened,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “A hard landing is becoming the base case scenario for many and that means more economic pain along with a much weaker stock market is coming.”
Bond yields soared after the Fed enacted another rate hike of 75 basis points. The 2-year and 10-year Treasury rates hit highs not seen in over a decade. On Friday, Goldman Sachs slashed its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 3,600 from 4,300.
“How far we go below the summer lows is anyone’s guess,” said Oanda’s Moya. “It doesn’t seem like any economic data release or Fed speak will convince markets that a downshift from this aggressive tightening campaign will be happening anytime soon.”
Looking ahead, traders are anticipating the release of personal consumption expenditures data, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, on Friday. Durable goods and consumer sentiment numbers will also come out this week.
A slew of Fed speakers — including Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Fed Governor Michelle Bowman — and Chair Powell are also scheduled to speak at various events this week.