By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally higher Wednesday, attempting to recover after recent losses, but the gains are tentative as investors fret about the likelihood of slowing growth as the Federal Reserve continues to tighten monetary policy.
At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 60 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 8 points, or 0.2% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 25 points, or 0.2%.
The major averages closed lower on Wall Street Tuesday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average down around 170 points, or 0.5%, the broad-based S&P 500 off 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite down 0.7%, adding to their three-week slide.
Sentiment has taken a hit since Fed chief Jerome Powell’s hawkish-sounding speech over the need to combat inflation at the Jackson Hole symposium in August, and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin continued the theme in an interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday.
The U.S. central bank must lift interest rates to a level that restrains economic activity and keep them there until policymakers are "convinced" that inflation is subsiding, Barkin said, according to the FT.
“We expect further weakness and bumpy markets before a decisive trough is established,” said analysts at Goldman Sachs, in a note.
The U.S. central bank next meets later this month, but this week will feature speeches and public remarks from several officials, including Powell on Thursday.
Later Wednesday the Fed releases the economic summaries from its district banks, known as the Beige Book. This report, due at 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT), paints a picture of what is happening in manufacturing, services, and other business sectors as well as in consumer behavior.
In the corporate sector, Nio (NYSE:NIO) ADRs slumped premarket after the Chinese electric vehicle maker reported a wider loss in the second quarter despite an increase in shipments.
Newell Brands (NASDAQ:NWL) stock fell premarket after the consumer goods company revised its third-quarter revenue guidance lower, citing the “continued inflationary pressures on the consumer.”
Earnings from meme stock and game retailer GameStop (NYSE:GME) are also due Wednesday.
Oil prices rose Wednesday, bouncing after Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok, said his country will stop supplying gas and oil if price caps are imposed.
EU energy ministers are due to meet on Friday to discuss how to respond to reduced gas supplies from Russia, including the G7 plan to cap prices for Russian gas.
Prices had slumped earlier Wednesday after data showed that Chinese crude oil imports fell 9.4% in August from a year earlier, as the country’s stringent COVID curbs kept a number of cities under lockdown, curbing people movement and oil demand at the world's top crude importer.
Weekly U.S. inventory reports from the American Petroleum Institute and Energy Information Administration will be released on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, a day later than usual, because of a public holiday on Monday.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.4% higher at $87.12 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.3% to $93.11.
Additionally, gold futures edged higher to $1,713.25/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 0.9890.