Stock market news live updates: Stock futures drift ahead of Powell appearance

U.S. stock futures teetered in morning trading Tuesday ahead of a highly anticipated public speaking appearance by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in Washington, D.C., slated for early Tuesday afternoon.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 (^GSPC) ticked up 0.1%, while futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) slipped by roughly the same margin. Contracts on the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) were off by 0.2%.

Powell is scheduled to be interviewed by billionaire Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., around 12:40 p.m. ET.

Investors are largely expecting the U.S. central bank chief to strike a hawkish tone in his remarks after markets cheered his indication of “disinflation” in the economy after the Fed’s rate-setting meeting last week and after Friday’s blowout jobs report showed payrolls grew by 517,000 in January.

“If the Fed are unhappy with how the market interpreted last week’s meeting, then this is the opportunity for them to try and address things,” Quant Insight head of analytics Huw Roberts said in a note. “This will be a critical speech. Even if he’s says nothing of interest, that’s important. More benign neglect from Powell will be interpreted as a green light for risky assets to keep rallying.”

In other central bank news, the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by 25 basis points to an over 10-year high of 3.35%, following suit on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s move last week.

Back in the U.S. stock market, shares of Chinese search engine Baidu (BIDU) jumped 14% pre-market after indicating it’s on track to unveil its ChatGPT-like AI service in March.

Wild swings continued for meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY). Shares sank nearly 27% before the open after the beleaguered retailer announced plans to raise $1 billion through an equity offering. The plunge follows a surge of as much as 120% on Monday.

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Shares of education technology company Chegg (CHGG) tanked 24% in extended trading on the heels of disappointing guidance from executives on sales expectations.

Pinterest’s (PINS) stock fell 2.5% after the platform reported quarterly revenue late Monday that missed Wall Street estimates, renewing concerns about weakness in the ad market.

Equity markets have been on a climb higher in 2023, with risk-on sentiment fueled by expectations that waning housing and manufacturing data and a cooldown in inflation would prompt the Federal Reserve to pause and even cut rates sooner than expected.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said during an interview with CNBC Tuesday morning that Friday’s shock jobs data suggests he and his central bank colleagues must stay the course on fighting inflation.

“We know that raising rates can put a lid on inflation,” Kashkari said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We need to raise rates aggressively to put a ceiling on inflation, then let monetary policy work its way through the economy.”

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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc

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