U.S. stock futures climb ahead of Fed outcome, more earnings

How are stock-index futures trading?

• S&P 500 futures
  ES00
  jumped 1.52% to 4,415

• Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
  YM00
  rose 1.03% to 34,549

• Nasdaq Composite futures
  NQ00
  surged 2.2% to 14,453

On Tuesday, the Dow industrials
DJIA
fell 66.77 points, or 0.2%, to close at 34,297.73. The index saw a more than 800-point drop at its session low early Tuesday, followed by a rise in the afternoon. The S&P 500 
SPX
declined 53.68 points, or 1.2%, to end at 4,356.45 after a brief spell in correction territory. The Nasdaq Composite 
COMP
 dropped 315.83 points, or 2.3%, to finish at 13,539.29.

What’s driving the markets?

Investors have been whipsawed by recent volatility in equity markets, driven by disappointment over corporate earnings so far this quarter, tension between Russia and NATO over Ukraine, COVID-19 worries and, most of all, apprehension over the extent of Fed monetary policy tightening to come.

“Yesterday, major U.S. indices went from tears to laughter then back to tears, again,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, in a note to clients. “As such, seeking a dip has become a difficult exercise, and the strong corporate results have a little impact on the market’s bad faith these days.”

Fears over tighter Fed policy have been reflected in the Nasdaq, down 13% this month. It fell into correction territory last week, down more than 10% from its record high in November. Dominated by interest-rate-sensitive growth stocks, the index has suffered blows from rising Treasury yields.

Markets largely expect the first Fed interest-rate hike won’t arrive until March, but Wednesday’s outcome and comments will still garner close attention. A decision will be announced at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, followed by a news conference with Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.

“It’s probably soon time to chill for the Fed hawks, as the Fed hasn’t got anything to gain in sending out hawkish messages today: slaughtered equity markets won’t help them to get the inflation situation straight. On the contrary, a deep dive in the financial markets would only refrain the Fed from doing what it’s got to do and worsen inflation,” added Ozkardeskaya.

Data released Tuesday showed slippage in consumer confidence, on the back of rising prices and the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Apart from the Fed outcome, an advance report on trade in goods is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, followed by new home sales starts at 10 a.m. Eastern, both…