By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Johann M Cherian
(Reuters) -Wall Street futures fell on Wednesday as investors awaited minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting for clues on the central bank’s monetary policy path, while Sino-U.S. tensions and weak economic data from Beijing dented sentiment.
Rate-sensitive growth and technology companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet fell 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively, in premarket trading.
Investors are focused on the Fed minutes, expected to be released around 2 p.m. ET, as they resume trading after the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
Investors’ bets for a 25-basis-point rate hike in July stood at 83%, while they have priced in a 32% chance the U.S. central bank would deliver another hike by October, according to Refinitiv data. [IRPR]
“There will clearly be a couple of hawkish sentences that will hit the headlines, given that Fed officials paused their rate hikes in their June meeting, but their dot plot showed two more interest rate hikes before a real and a longer pause,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
Traders also awaited U.S. factory orders data, expected at 10 a.m. ET, to gauge the impact of higher rates on the economy after a survey showed on Monday manufacturing slumped in June.
More economic data, including the non-farm payrolls report on Friday, is scheduled for release this week.
Chip stocks such as Nvidia and Micron Technology fell 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively, after China said it would control exports of some metals widely used in the semiconductor industry as tensions between Beijing and Washington over access to high-tech microchips rise.
Netflix gained 0.9% as Goldman Sachs raised its rating and price target.
Shares of Wolfspeed Inc reversed early losses to gain 17.2% after the company signed a 10-year silicon carbide wafer supply agreement with Renesas Electronics Corp.
Denting risk sentiment, China’s June services activity expanded at the slowest pace in five months, raising concerns about global economic recovery, a private-sector survey showed.
U.S. main indexes kicked off the third quarter with slim gains in a holiday-shortened session on Monday, led by Tesla after the electric vehicle company posted record second-quarter deliveries.
At 7:04 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 146 points, or 0.42%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 19 points, or 0.42%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 78 points, or 0.51%.
Among other movers, United Parcel Service slid 2.6% after the Teamsters union said the parcel delivery firm had “walked away” from negotiations over a new contract, raising prospects of a strike.
Moderna rose 1.5% after the drugmaker signed an agreement to work towards opportunities to research, develop and manufacture mRNA medicines in China.
Rivian Automotive added 6.0%, extending Monday’s sharp rally, after Amazon.com said it would deploy 300 vans of the electric-vehicle maker in Germany over the coming weeks.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Vinay Dwivedi)
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