Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, June 18, 2021.
Source: NYSE
Stock futures are mostly flat on Sunday to kick off a new week of trading after the Dow posted its worst week since October.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 8 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.08%. Meanwhile, Nasdaq 100 futures edged 0.02% higher.
U.S. stocks fell on Friday as investors digested new economic projections from the Federal Reserve and worried rate hikes could come sooner than expected.
The Fed on Wednesday raised its inflation expectations and forecast rate hikes in 2023. St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that it was natural for the central bank to tilt a little more “hawkish” and saw higher interest rates as soon as 2022.
The Dow dropped 3.5% last week, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dipped 1.9% and 0.2%, respectively, on the week.
Sectors tied to the economic recovery led last week’s dip. The S&P 500 financials and materials sectors lost more than 6% on the week, while energy fell more than 5% and industrials dropped more than 3%.
“Investors may be interpreting the Fed’s hawkish tilt Wednesday as a sign that an extended US post-pandemic economic expansion may be a bit harder to achieve in a potentially emerging environment of less accommodative monetary policy,” Goldman Sachs’ Chris Hussey said in a note.
The Treasury yield curve also flattened last week. The yields of shorter-term Treasurys, like the 2-year note, rose — reflecting expectations of the Fed raising rates. Longer-term yields, like the 10-year note, retreated — a sign of less optimism toward economic growth.
Investors await public appearances from Fed members on Monday. Bullard and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan are set to speak virtually on a Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum panel at 9:00 a.m. ET. New York Fed President John Williams is expected to deliver remarks at a Midsize Bank Coalition of America event Monday afternoon.
