Stock futures pointed to more losses Monday — following the major averages’ worst week since June — as interest rates surged ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting this week.
Futures tied to Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 230 points, or 0.73%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.7%, respectively.
The 10-year Treasury yield topped 3.5% on Monday, its highest level in 11 years, and rates across the board continued to rise ahead of the Fed’s likely decision this week to raise its benchmark rate by another three-quarters of a point to snuff out inflation. After some brief hope over the summer that the Fed may be done its aggressive tightening campaign soon, investors have begun dumping stocks again on fears the central bank will go too far and tip the economy into a recession.
Investors are coming into the new week focused on the Fed’s latest policy meeting, which will begin Tuesday. The central bank is expected to raise interest rates by another three-quarters of a point, though investors are also watching for guidance about corporate earnings before the next reporting season begins in October.
“As we peer into the end of 2022, we continue to anticipate choppy conditions in US equities, which we view as caught in a tug of war between deeply bearish sentiment (a contrarian / bullish signal) and ongoing concerns about further Fed tightening and its longer-term economic ramifications and downward earnings revisions,” wrote RBC Capital Markets’ Lori Calvasina in a note to clients Monday.
Stocks slid last week as investors reacted to a hotter-than-expected inflation report and a dismal warning from FedEx about a “significantly worsened” global economy. The major averages posted their fourth weekly loss in five weeks.
Beyond the Fed meeting, there are just a few economic data releases this week, including August housing starts on Tuesday and initial jobless claims on Thursday.
There are also a handful of corporate earnings on deck, including Costco, Darden Restaurants, General Mills and Lennar.
