US pre-open: Stocks seen higher as investors eye Powell testimony
US futures pointed to a firmer open on Wall Street on Monday as investors eye a slew of data releases and Jerome Powell's first testimony as Federal Reserve chairman.
At 1220 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.7%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were 0.4% and 0.3% higher, respectively.
Fedspeak will be in focus as St Louis Fed President James Bullard is set to give a speech at the National Association of Business Economics in Washington, while Fed Vice chairman Randall Quarles is also due to speak at the same event.
The main attraction comes on Tuesday, however, when Fed chairman Jerome Powell delivers his first congressional testimony. Investors will be looking for any clues on the pace of future monetary tightening amid growing expectations that the US central bank could hike rates four times this year rather than the three originally expected.
Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said Powell has had a baptism of fire in the three weeks since he took on his new role, with markets experiencing huge volatility on fears that inflation will see the Fed raise rates more aggressively than anticipated.
"The opportunity to establish what Mr Powell thinks about the US economy, inflation, interest rates and asset values is therefore highly important for markets.
"Current market valuations were one of the main talking points from Warren Buffett’s annual letter, as he gave investors his view of the world. His efforts to deplete his burgeoning war chest and pull the trigger on a major deal in 2017 were all scuppered by his inability to find anything that he believed offered a ‘sensible purchase price’. For the ultimate deal maker and value investor to conclude that the market is not offering any attractive buying opportunities is a potentially worrying sign for investors."
On the corporate front, Dean Foods, Scripps Networks Interactive and Fitbit are among the companies slated to report.
Hibett Sports looked set for gains at the open after its fourth-quarter earnings per share beat analysts' expectations, while General Electric was likely to be in focus after it nominated three new candidates to its board of directors as the size of the board is cut to 12 directors from 17.
UPS shares could be active following news the parcel delivery service is suing the European Union's antitrust watchdog for €1.74bn over its decision to block a planned merge with TNT Express.
On the macroeconomic calendar, the Chicago Fed national activity index is at 1330 GMT, while new homes sales are at 1500 GMT and the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index is at 1530 GMT.