U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday as investors brace themselves for a spike in interest rates following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish testimony before congress. With the labor market remaining tight despite the central bank’s aggressive rate hikes in recent times, Friday’s weekly jobless claims report could prove to be a deciding factor in the Fed’s monetary policy going forward.
Futures on the S&P 500 were down 0.28% during Thursday’s morning session, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 declined by 0.55%. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged lower by 0.06%.
“Investors have digested Chair Powell’s testimony and are now preparing for the jobs number that’s coming out tomorrow,” Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management, stated. “I expect to see volatility maybe throughout the first half of this year until investors have a clearer sense of where Chair Powell is on raising rates.”
Analysts polled by Reuters are expecting to see that payrolls have increased by 205,000 last month; a decline from January’s notable figure of 517,000 new payrolls.