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Apple rises as GS initiates coverage with 'buy' rating
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China ADRs slip after Beijing's modest growth target of 5%
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Crypto stocks fall as Silvergate suspends payments network
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Futures off: Dow 0.14%, S&P off 0.14%, Nasdaq 0.10%
(Updates prices, adds details)
By Sruthi Shankar and Bansari Mayur Kamdar
March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched
lower on Monday as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome Powell's testimony and monthly payrolls report this week
for cues on the central bank's interest-rate trajectory.
The three main U.S. stock indexes rallied on Friday and notched weekly gains as Treasury yields pulled back from their peaks after comments from Fed policymakers calmed jitters over aggressive rate hikes. The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes slipped to 3.92%, its lowest since March 1, while the two-year yield inched down to 4.85% after touching its highest since 2007 last week. Powell will be testifying before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday and investors will watch for clues on the policy outlook, after recent strong economic data and hot inflation numbers fueled bets for more interest rate hikes this year. "Looking at the latest set of data, the U-turn of easing inflation and last month's blowout jobs figures, we don't expect to hear anything less than hawkish from Mr. Powell," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. "But it's always possible that a word like 'disinflation' slips out of his mouth, and that we get a boost on risk."
Traders expect at least three 25-basis-point hikes this year and see interest rates peaking at 5.44% by September from 4.67% now. Investors also eyed factory orders data for January, due at 1000 a.m. EST, to assess the impact of higher interest rates on the manufacturing sector.
At 06:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 48 points,
or 0.14%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.5 points, or
0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 12.75 points, or
0.1%.
Shares of Apple Inc climbed 0.9% in premarket
trading after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage on the iPhone
maker with a "buy" rating.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies Alibaba and
PDD Holdings fell 0.9% and 1.2%, respectively, after
China set a modest annual economic growth target of about 5%,
below market expectations of 5.5%-plus growth.
Shares of cryptocurrency-related companies fell after
Silvergate Capital Corp pulled the plug on its crypto
payments network, after raising doubts on the company's ability
to stay in business. The California-based bank slid 4.9%, while
peer Signature Bank declined 2.1%.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in
Bengaluru
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
