US pre-open: Futures lower following Fed meeting
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Thursday 17 Sep 2020
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures had stocks opening lower ahead of the bell on Thursday after the Federal Reserve vowed to keep interest rates at their current level until 2023.
As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.99%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 1.25% and 1.54% weaker, respectively.
The Dow Jones closed 36.78 points higher on Wednesday after the Federal Open Markets Committee said the US overnight rate could remain zero-bound for the next three years as part of an effort to prompt inflation.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also said the Fed would maintain easy monetary policy until "maximum employment" can be achieved.
IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "A lingering sense of disappointment hangs over global markets in the wake of the Fed meeting last night. Investors had evidently hoped for something much more concrete than the relatively vague policy outlook provided by Powell and co, with equities struggling in early trading and the dollar finding some support.
"From the accompanying press conference, it is clear that the Fed finds itself in a similar situation to the ECB; content to err on the side of caution for now with regard to doing any more, but painfully aware that fiscal stimulus needs to pick up the slack even as the chances of that stimulus seem to be receding. With an election looming neither party in Congress wishes to give their opponents anything that could be transmuted into electoral advantage, and so the deadlock goes on."
As far as Thursday was concerned, the day's primary focus will be this week's batch of initial jobless claims figures from the Department of Labor at 1330 BST.
On the macro front, building permits and housing starts data will be released at 1330 BST, as will the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's manufacturing index for September.
No major earnings were slated for release on Thursday.
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