Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 22, 2024.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
S&P 500 futures are near flat Tuesday night as investors parsed the latest earnings reports and readied for the Federal Reserve monetary policy decision coming Wednesday afternoon.
Futures tied to the broad index lost 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures ticked higher by 0.2%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 164 points, or 0.4%.
Microsoft shares dropped around 4% as its cloud business disappointed Wall Street. On the other hand, Advanced Micro Devices climbed more than 7% as second-quarter results topped consensus forecasts. Artificial intelligence darling Nvidia climbed more than 4% on the back of AMD’s report.
Those moves follow a mixed session on Tuesday as traders continued rotating out of megacap technology names. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 1.3%. The broad S&P 500 slipped 0.5%, led down by information technology names.
The blue-chip Dow bucked the downtrend, adding 0.5%. The Russell 2000 also outperformed, rising about 0.4% as investors continued buying into small caps amid the shift away from major tech names that have led the market higher for much of the year.
All eyes are on the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, which wraps up its policy meeting with an announcement about interest rates and a subsequent press conference with Chair Jerome Powell.
Fed funds futures are pricing in a strong likelihood that central bankers will keep rates steady at the 5.25% to 5.5% range, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool. The main focus for traders, however, will be whether Powell offers any signs that cuts may be on the near horizon.
“Investors are expecting a strong signal for a September rate cut by the Fed,” said Bryce Doty, senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates. “But it’s difficult for the Fed to sound overly confident on a future rate cut because that will beg the question, ‘Why not cut now?’ Consequently, investors are likely to be disappointed by the tone and posture of the Fed meeting.”
In the runup to the announcement, traders will monitor economic data on private payrolls, employment costs and pending home sales due throughout the morning. On the corporate earnings front, they will watch for releases from Boeing before the bell, followed by Albemarle, Qualcomm, Etsy and Carvana after the market closes.
Those could be the final catalysts in a bumpy month for the market. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are tracking to end July down 0.4% and 3.3%, respectively.
The Dow and Russell 2000 are slated to finish the month higher by more than 4% and 9%, respectively. That underscores the market rotation’s boost to stocks that are smaller and more cyclically oriented.
