Investing.com – U.S. stock futures were little changed in after-hours trading on Sunday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting and key inflation data.
Futures steadied after Wall Street took some losses on Friday as an impressive non-farm payrolls report caused markets to reset expectations that the central bank will cut rates by September.
stabilized at 4,355.75 but rose slightly to 19,040.0 by 19:04 ET (2304 GMT). stabilized at 38,867.0 points.
Fed rate decision, approach to CPI data
All eyes were on Wednesday’s conclusion that the central bank was likely to keep interest rates unchanged.
But any signals about when he plans to start cutting interest rates will be closely watched, given that the economy remains relatively strong.
Data on Friday showed the labor market, one of the factors the Fed influences when cutting rates, remained strong. Markets sharply cut bets on a September rate cut after the data was released, triggering some losses on Wall Street.
But ahead of the Fed’s meeting on Wednesday, inflation data will also be released and is expected to show inflation remains comfortably above the central bank’s target range.
Inflation has been the Fed’s primary consideration when moving interest rates, with the bank largely presenting a long-term outlook for rates in an environment of persistent inflation.
Wall Street remains near record highs
But even with Friday’s losses, Wall Street remained close to the record highs reached last week, helped by gains in tech heavyweights, most notably market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:).
The fall was 0.1% to 5346.99 points. Quotes fell 0.3% to 17,129.90 points and ended trading down 0.2% to 38,798.99 points.
However, high valuations have increased the likelihood of profit-taking in stocks, especially after risk appetite softened ahead of the Fed.
Increased political uncertainty in Europe after voting across the European Union showed a clear shift towards right-wing and far-right parties could also potentially weigh on sentiment.