Investing.com – Wall Street was set to open flat on Thursday as investors expect the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates this year.
The S&P 500 futures rose over two points or 0.09% to 2,828.25 as of 6:45 AM ET (11:45 GMT) while Dow futures decreased 32 points or 0.12% to 26,104.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were down two points or 0.03% to 6,960.50.
The Fed decided to leave interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting on Wednesday, but said it expects inflation to move "up this year and to stabilize" around its 2 percent target. Bond yields rose after the comments, trader confidence increases that the Fed will increase rates in the future.
Bond yields rise when the federal fund rate increases because they lock investors into lower rates for extended periods.
In earnings news, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX), and Blackstone (NYSE:BX) are expected to report before the bell while Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) are due to release figures after markets close.
Telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) Corp ADR (NYSE:NOK) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading after it reported better than expected quarterly profits, surging 9.26%. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) increased 2.25% after its earnings came in better than expected, while eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) jumped 9.91% after it reported it was splitting with PayPal in favour of payments platform Adyen. PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) dipped 6.88% after the news. Meanwhile Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) ADR (NASDAQ:VOD) was down 3.69% while Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) fell 4.83%.
In economic data news, ISM manufacturing new orders and construction spending numbers are both due at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT), followed by total vehicles sales for January at 3:00 PM ET (20:00 GMT).
In Europe stocks were mostly up. Germany’s DAX rose three points or 0.02% while in France the CAC 40 increased 18 points or 0.34% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down nine points or 0.12%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained nine points or 0.26% while Spain’s IBEX 35 jumped 49 points or 0.47%.