U.S. stock index futures<\/strong> gained slightly in early Wednesday trade, consolidating after the previous session\u2019s pullback that ended Wall Street\u2019s streak of record highs. At 04:15 ET (08:15 GMT)<\/strong>, Dow Jones Futures rose 70 points (0.2%)<\/strong>, S&P 500 Futures gained 13 points (0.2%)<\/strong>, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 80 points (0.3%)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The uptick comes after Tuesday\u2019s losses, driven by weakness in technology stocks and renewed investor caution following remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Powell\u2019s comments reinforced concerns that the central bank faces a delicate balancing act. Speaking in Rhode Island, he noted that economic growth has moderated<\/strong>, the labor market has cooled<\/strong>, and inflation remains above target<\/strong>. He stressed that cutting rates too aggressively risks reigniting inflation, while moving too slowly risks damaging employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Fed lowered rates by 25 basis points last week<\/strong> and markets still expect at least two more cuts this year<\/strong>, but Powell\u2019s tone tempered expectations for a faster easing cycle. His remarks that U.S. stocks appear highly valued<\/strong> also triggered profit-taking, particularly in technology shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weaker-than-expected purchasing managers index (PMI) data for September<\/strong> added to investor caution, showing slower growth in both manufacturing<\/strong> and services activity<\/strong>. The release pointed to a more moderate economic trajectory in the second half of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Markets are now awaiting a final reading on Q2 GDP growth<\/strong> due Thursday, which previously showed robust expansion but may soften in later quarters due to tariffs and inflationary pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main focus will be Friday\u2019s release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index<\/strong>\u2014the Fed\u2019s preferred inflation measure. Core PCE is expected to remain well above the 2% target<\/strong>, which could shape expectations for the pace of future rate cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" U.S. stock index futures gained slightly in early Wednesday trade, consolidating after the previous session\u2019s pullback that ended Wall Street\u2019s streak of record highs. At 04:15 ET (08:15 GMT), Dow Jones Futures rose 70 points (0.2%), S&P 500 Futures gained 13 points (0.2%), and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 80 points (0.3%). The uptick comes after …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":110831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6827,39,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-daily-economic-reports","category-global-stock-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119197,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119196\/revisions\/119197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Powell Warns of \u201cNo Risk-Free Path\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Data Signals Economic Cooling<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Upcoming Data: GDP and PCE Inflation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n