U.S. stock futures rose on Tuesday night after the S&P 500 index posted its third consecutive day of declines.
Futures tracking the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.15%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 62 points, or 0.16%.
United Airlines rose 5% in extended trading after its losses narrowed and sales beat expectations. JB Hunt Transport Services fell 5% after sales and bottom line fell short of analysts’ expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.17% higher on Tuesday, ending a six-day losing streak. The index was powered by UnitedHealth, which rose more than 5% after posting better sales and bottom line results in the first quarter.
The S&P 500 fell 0.21% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.12%. Both averages fell for the third consecutive day.
The move comes as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed needs to see further progress on the inflation front before the U.S. central bank is likely to start cutting rates. It was carried out in response to the Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird, said the comments did little to ease market pessimism.
“The main headwind is a hawkish reassessment of expectations for the Fed, and I think Fed Chairman Powell today, perhaps intentionally, did not do much to alleviate those concerns,” he told CNBC. ” he said. “The market is reaching a point where it is questioning whether there will be a rate cut in 2024.”
Mayfield said he expects stocks to remain mostly range-bound in the short term, unless geopolitical events cause oil prices to rise further.
US Bancorp and Travelers are scheduled to report earnings before the bell on Wednesday.
