Oct 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Thursday, with investors awaiting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments to gauge whether the central bank was leaning more towards inflation control or labor market support.
Minutes from the Fed's September meeting showed lingering inflation concerns, potentially complicating the path to aggressive interest-rate cuts that have already been priced in by markets.
"Central bankers are still paying lip service to their inflation mandates," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.
Any hint of a hawkish tilt from Powell could weigh on equities, which have held strong even during a seasonally weak stretch partly on expectations of lower rates.
"Investors who have held their nerve are cleaning up, yet the drums of worry are banging louder each day," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
At 06:56 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 14 points, or 0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 1.25 points, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 12.5 points, or 0.05%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC), and the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), indexes hit all-time closing highs on Wednesday.
Markets will lean heavily on other Fed speakers as well, including Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, Board Governor Michael Barr and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly.
A quiet economic calendar has prompted traders to closely assess earnings reports from PepsiCo (PEP.O), and Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), whose forecasts and executive commentary are likely to be parsed for insights on consumer confidence.
These indicators are expected to be used as substitutes for official releases, which have been halted due to the government shutdown, now in its second week.
While their correlation with official data varies, some of these proxies have shown worrying trends. Earlier this week, investment firm Carlyle (CG.O), estimated that U.S. employers added just 17,000 jobs last month, far below the 54,000 economists polled by Reuters had estimated in the nonfarm payrolls report.
Separately, spot gold prices held above $4,000 an ounce, after breaching the milestone for the first time earlier this week. Bullion's gains have shown the strong demand for hedging even as investors chase momentum in equities.
However, Israel and Hamas signing off on the first phase of a proposed Gaza peace deal could help remove a long-term overhang on risk assets.
Among stocks, Tesla (TSLA.O), shares were about 1% lower in premarket trading, while Nvidia (NVDA.O), rose 1.2%.
PepsiCo (PEP.O), rose 2.7% after it beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter revenue and profit, buoyed by resilient demand for its energy drinks and healthier sodas in the U.S.
The beverage and snacks company also named Walmart executive Steve Schmitt as its new finance head.
Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), provided an upbeat forecast for the current quarter, after posting stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Shares of the airline jumped 5.2%.
Other U.S. airlines also gained. While United Airlines (UAL.O), rose 3.5%, American Airlines (AAL.O), and JetBlue Airways (JBLU.O), advanced 3.7% and 1.7%, respectively.
Roundhill Meme Stock ETF (MEME.P), which was re-launched on Wednesday after being shuttered for two years, surged 21.9%.
Costco Wholesale (COST.O), rose 1.2%, a day after reporting sales data for September.
Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Shilpi Majumdar
