Flat opening seen in Wall Street as FOMC speakers dominate agenda

Wall Street stock futures were set for a flat open on Tuesday, with market participants turning their eyes into a fresh batch of FOMC speakers later in the session.

San Francisco Federal Reserve President John C. Williams spoke earlier in the day in Sydney. The policymaker said unwinding the central bank’s massive balance sheet this year is the right way to go and that a third rate hike in the upcoming months sounds reasonable.

Ahead in the day, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard is set to speak as of 16:30 GMT, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is due at 17:20 GMT.

Investors are closely monitoring speeches from Federal Open Market Committee representatives. Markets are trying to figure whether the US central bank will move forward with a third rate hike this year, as well as further details on the reduction of the bank’s balance sheet.

According to Fed funds tracked by CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders are pricing in a 50.9 percent probability of a 25 basis points hike by December.

On the data front, the only relevant report will be the JOLTs Job Openings for May, with market analysts currently pointing at 5.950 million from a prior reading of 6.044 million.

There were no major economic reports on Monday. Attention is mainly directed to the release of US consumer price index and retails sales on Friday. These are key indicators that the regulator uses to determine further steps in monetary policy.

Investors are also looking ahead of major second-quarter earnings reports on Friday. JPMorgan, Citibank and Wells Fargo are all due to release their EPS and revenues on Friday.

Trading volume in the US equity market was light on Monday, with nearly 5.6 billion shares moving around against a 20-day average of 6.9 billion per session.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -5.82 / -0.03% / 21408.52
• Standard & Poor’s 500: 2.25 / 0.09% / 2427.43
• Nasdaq Composite: 23.31 / 0.38% / 6176.39

Fort Financial Services