Investing.com - U.S. futures were flat on Thursday as investors mulled over comments from the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 futures was down a quarter of a point or 0.01% to 2,778.75 as of 6:46 AM ET (10:46 GMT) while Dow futures decreased two points or 0.01% to 25,206.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell seven points or 0.10% to 7,224.0.
The Fed increased interest rates for the second time this year on Wednesday and signaled that there would be two more rate hikes by the end of the year. All three major indices ended the day lower after hawkish tones from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
Meanwhile investors are also looking ahead to the European Central Bank this morning, which is expected to signal when its bond-buying program will end in a statement at 7:45 ET (11:45 GMT).
Streaming site Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was among the top performers in pre-market data, rising 0.61% while Vodafone (LON:VOD) increased 1.86% and retailer Michael gained 3.97% after increasing its year-end earnings guidance on Tuesday.
Elsewhere Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) fell 0.42% while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was down 0.34% and Unilever (LON:ULVR) dropped 2.82%.
In economic news, retail sales, jobless claims and import and export prices are released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 42 points or 0.33% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 12 points or 0.22% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 39 points or 0.52%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 15 points or 0.45% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down 26 points or 0.26%.
In commodities, gold futures were up 0.58% to $1,308.90 a troy ounce while crude oil futures rose 0.21% to $66.78 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.27% to 93.31.