US Stocks Likely To Open Higher Despite Powell's Tariff-Induced Inflation Warning: Walgreens, Nike In Focus Ahead Of Earnings

U.S. futures rose on Thursday after a mixed close on Wednesday. Futures of major benchmark indices were trading higher.

During his testimony to Congress, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled slower growth and hotter inflation after the central bank left interest rates unchanged.

President Donald Trump, who has been pushing the Fed to cut rates, said that he could announce Powell’s successor by September, whose term ends later in May 2026, reported the Wall Street Journal.

The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.28% and the two-year bond was at 3.76%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 75.2% likelihood of the Federal Reserve keeping the current interest rates unchanged in its July meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was up 0.28% at $608.84, while the QQQ advanced 0.41% to $543.36, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

Information technology and communication services stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing higher on Wednesday, while most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with real estate, consumer staples, and utilities recording the biggest losses.

At a NATO meeting in the Netherlands, President Trump stated that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran remains in effect, and the United States will persist in pressuring Tehran. He clarified that while sanctions are still in place, Iran is presently permitted to sell oil to China.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD spearheaded chipmaker gains, increasing 3.6% and reaching its highest level since early December 2024. Nvidia Corp. NVDA shares also surged 4.3% on Wednesday.

On the economic front, U.S. sales of new single-family homes decreased by 13.7% from the previous month, reaching an annualized rate of 623,000 units in May. U.S. building permits declined by 2% to an annualized rate of 1.394 million in May.

The Dow Jones index ended 507 points or 0.25% lower at 42,982.43, whereas the S&P 500 index fell 0.0003% to 6,092.16. Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.31% to 19,973.55, and the small-cap gauge, Russell 2000, tumbled 1.16% to end at 2,136.18.

Insights From Analysts:

Liz Ann Sonders, the chief investment strategist at Schwab, said that the Middle East remains unstable, but maybe not as unstable as it looked a few days ago, so the market shook off the fear and rose.

“There was a spike in oil and concerns over the weekend and what futures signaled Sunday night, but things aren’t as bad as expected, and we’re not seeing escalation, so markets rallied.”

Talking about international equities, Brock Weimer, an investment strategist at Edward Jones, said that “We believe the more compelling opportunity lies in U.S. equities over the next one to three years. As part of our opportunistic asset-allocation guidance, we recommend a slight underweight to international developed equities in favor of U.S. stocks.”

Meanwhile, Louis Navellier commented on Powell’s Congress testimony and said, “So, despite the fact that three other Fed members are now signaling a July key interest rate cut, Chairman Powell remains a hawk and continues to ignore favorable inflation data as well as lower Treasury yields.”

“The Fed has been anticipating an inflation ‘bogeyman’ that has not materialized. Central banks around the world continue to cut key interest rates. Deflation is becoming increasingly common around the world, especially in China,” Navellier said.

Talking about the U.S. dollar, he said he expects the U.S. dollar to “firm up” due to;

(1) higher interest rates compared to the rest of the world,
(2) stronger economic growth, and
(3) military might.

“A strong U.S. dollar is also naturally deflationary, since commodities are priced in U.S. dollars,” he added.

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Thursday:

• May’s advanced U.S. trade balance in goods, retail inventories, and wholesale inventories, along with the initial jobless claims data for the week ended June 21, will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
• May’s headline and core durable-goods orders and second revision for the first quarter GDP will also be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack will speak at 9:00 a.m., and pending home sales for May will be out by 10:00 a.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus:

• Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA was up 0.27% in premarket on Thursday as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $36.84 billion, before the opening bell.
• Acuity Inc. AYI advanced 1.35% as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $4.43 per share on revenue of $1.15 billion, before the opening bell.
• Nike Inc. NKE was 0.74% higher as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 13 cents per share on revenue of $10.72 billion after the closing bell.
• McCormick & Company Inc. MKC rose 0.84% as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 65 cents per share on revenue of $1.66 billion, before the opening bell.
• Worthington Steel Inc. WS jumped 16.15% after reporting stronger-than-expected financial results for the fourth quarter. The company reported quarterly earnings of $1.05 per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 82 cents per share.
• Micron Technology Inc. MU was up 2.18% after reporting better-than-expected financial results for the third quarter after the market closed on Wednesday. The company said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $10.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, versus estimates of $9.88 billion.
• Bumble Inc. BMBL gained 0.61% after announcing 30% of job cuts and restructuring plans.
• Bit Digital Inc. BTBT tumbled 3.83% commenced an underwritten public offering of its ordinary shares, with all shares being offered by the company.

Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.15% to hover around $65.02 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.29% to hover around $3,341.87 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was lower by 0.54% at the 97.1550 level.

Asian markets ended lower on Thursday, except Japan's Nikkei 225 and India's S&P BSE Sensex indices. While Australia's ASX 200, China’s CSI 300, South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced. European markets were mostly higher in early trade.

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