Micron Technology up on likely $6 bln in grants
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Weekly jobless claims data due at 8:30 a.m. ET
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Futures up: Dow 0.20%, S&P 0.21%, Nasdaq 0.25%
(Updated at 7:19 a.m. ET/ 1119 GMT)
By Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A
April 18 (Reuters) – Futures for Wall Street’s main indexes gained on Thursday as chip stocks rebounded, while investors awaited commentary from Federal Reserve officials to ascertain the outlook for interest-rate cuts.
Micron Technology rose 1.9% after a report that the memory-chip maker is set to get more than $6 billion in grants from the U.S. Commerce Department to help pay for domestic chip factory projects.
Other chip-related stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices , Nvidia and Broadcom gained between 0.7% and 0.9% in premarket trading.
The gains follow a more than 3% drop in Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on Wednesday. It was also down nearly 13% from the record high levels seen last month amid receding bets on rate cuts.
“Generally, fundamentals will be supportive of chip stocks, but also after such a strong rally, it’s not unusual to see a bit of profit-taking,” said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.
Also easing some pressure on equities, Treasury yields fell slightly from the elevated levels seen earlier in the week, with the yield on the 10-year note last at 4.5772%.
All three major indexes closed lower in the last session, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq logging their fourth straight day of losses as investors remained jittery about the Fed’s interest-rate outlook.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said she expected price pressures to ease further this year, allowing the central bank to cut borrowing costs, but only when it is “pretty confident” about inflation heading sustainably to its 2% goal.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said progress on lowering U.S. inflation may have stalled. She said it remained an open question whether interest rates were high enough to ensure a return to the 2% inflation target.
“If we have a look at data at the moment, I don’t think there is anything that really screams the Fed needs to be cutting rates right now,” Cincotta said.
Investors will keenly listen to remarks from New York Fed President John Williams and his Atlanta counterpart Raphael Bostic later in the day.
Money market participants see an about 44% chance of the Fed kicking off its easing cycle in July, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
At 7:19 a.m. ET, 더블유비씨247 Dow e-minis were up 77 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 44.75 points, or 0.25%.
D.R. Horton rose 2.6% before the bell after the U.S. homebuilder raised its annual revenue forecast as tight housing supply boosted sales.
Las Vegas Sands Corp lost 3.4% after brokerages cut their price targets on the casino operator due to weakness in its Macau operations.
Weekly jobless claims and March existing home sales data due later in the day will also be on the investor radar. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Arun Koyyur)