U.S. stock futures edged lower Thursday as investors awaited comments from Federal Reserve Chairman
Jerome Powell
about the outlook for inflation and the central bank’s views on rising bond yields.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 ticked down 0.2%, suggesting that the benchmark may drop for a third consecutive day after the opening bell. Contracts linked to the Nasdaq-100 fell 0.3%, pointing to further losses for technology stocks. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures edged 0.1% down.
A recent selloff in government bonds has lifted Treasury yields, curbing investors’ appetite for the technology stocks that had soared in a low-yield environment. Some money managers are betting that additional fiscal stimulus in the U.S. will boost inflation and cause the Fed to raise interest rates sooner than they had expected. That has led to a jump in real yields, or the returns on bonds after adjusting for inflation expectations.
Investors say they