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Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on March 5, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
S&P 500 futures edged lower Wednesday, as Wall Street’s struggles to start the second quarter of 2024 continued.
Futures tied to the broad index slipped by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 10 points, trading slightly below flat.
Wall Street is coming off a losing session for the major benchmarks after sticky inflation data from last week, as well as some strong manufacturing figures, had investors concerned the Federal Reserve will take longer to cut interest rates. Treasury yields spiked, with the rate on the 10-year note touching its highest level since November. The benchmark rate was flat on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the 30-stock Dow dropped nearly 400 points for its second straight losing session. The S&P 500 lost 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite tumbled nearly 1%.
Still, some market observers remain optimistic overall on equities, saying stocks are due for some consolidation after a strong start to the year. The S&P 500 is coming off its best first quarter since 2019.
“I think it’s a little bit of a garden variety pullback,” Kristen Bitterly, global wealth head of investment solutions at Citi, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday. “We’ve heard day after day that we’re either touching all-time highs or within reach of all-time highs. So, I don’t see anything to read into today, more than geopolitics resurfacing, yields popping up.”
“We know that the Fed’s trajectory from here is downward. We know inflation is coming down. And we know that earnings have turned a corner as well,” Bitterly continued. “So, when you have that fundamental backdrop, it’s actually pretty constructive for risk assets overall.”
Investors will get more insight into the labor market with the ADP private payrolls report due Wednesday, which comes ahead of the March jobs data on Friday. The ISM services index is set to release after the opening bell.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is also set to speak, as is a slew of other central bank speakers including Fed Governors Michelle Bowman and Adriana Kugler. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Michael Barr, the Fed vice chair for supervision, will also be speaking at events.
On the earnings front, Levi Strauss will be reporting after the close.
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