US stock futures were little changed Thursday night after a choppy trading session as traders considered Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s latest comments on inflation.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 30 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1% and 0.15%, respectively.
shares DocuSign It rose more than 17% in extended trading after the electronic agreements company reported a profit win. The company also released a third-quarter revenue forecast that was above expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 193 points, or 0.61%, during the regular session on Thursday — closing higher after alternating between gains and losses throughout the day. The S&P 500 rose 0.66% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.60%.
These gains put all 3 major averages on course for losses for 3 consecutive weeks. During Thursday, the Dow was up 1.45%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up 2.09%, and the Nasdaq Composite is up 1.99%.
However, stocks remain under pressure as expectations for a rate hike of 0.75 percentage point this month grew on Wall Street, after the Federal Reserve chief said once again that he is “strongly committed” to lowering inflation.
“I think people are grossly underestimating what the Fed is going to do to fight inflation,” Richard Bernstein, CEO of Richard Bernstein Consulting, said Thursday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”
“It’s incredibly ironic that investors are even thinking about the Fed pivot when the real fed funds rate remains at the same negative level as it has been historically. So the Fed hasn’t fought inflation aggressively yet. We don’t have a positive real money rate. It’s hard to say that we should turn very bullish anytime soon.”
