Stock futures climbed on Thursday, supported by technology stocks, with traders trying to claw back some of the losses suffered in the previous session incited by the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike in three years. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 619 points, or 1.2%. S&P 500 futures were up 1.3%, and Nasdaq-100 futures added 1.7%. Tech drove the broader market higher. “Magnificent Seven” names Nvidia and Amazon rose 2% each, while fellow member Microsoft gained 1%. Other stocks related to the artificial intelligence trade, such as Applied Materials, Qualcomm, and Intel, advanced 3%. Meanwhile, Treasury yields pulled back. The 10-year yield moved below 5%, dropping more than 5 basis points to 4.951%. The yield had risen back above that key level Wednesday following the Fed’s rate decision. Oil prices declined, which also gave a boost to equities. U.S. crude traded 2% lower and fell below $100 per barrel. Brent slid 2% to about $102 a barrel. That’s as supply disruption concerns eased after Saudi Arabia reportedly decided to make more crude cargoes available to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers near the Sohar port in Oman. On Wednesday, the blue-chip Dow lost more than 630 points, or 1.2%, dragged down by financial services names. The broad market S&P 500 edged lower by 0.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended the session marginally lower. Those moves came after the Fed raised the overnight federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point, bringing the target range to between 3.75% and 4%. Policymakers also signaled another hike could come this year, with Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh saying that inflation remains too high. Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said in a note on Thursday that his team remained “positioned for further equity gains while preparing for near-term volatility.” “If tightening remains measured, credit spreads remain stable, and profits continue to grow, the rally should have scope to broaden across sectors and regions,” he said. “We recommend diversified equity exposure while avoiding excessive concentration in areas that are particularly sensitive to interest rates or rely on a single return driver.” Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.33% higher at 64,136.25 Wednesday, while South Korea’s Kospi ended flat at 6,715.41. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.62% in the last hour of trade on Thursday, while mainland China’s CSI 300 closed 0.45% lower at 4,460.16. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.41% to 8,732.40. Gold climbed more than 1% on Thursday as a softer dollar and easing oil prices lent support, while investors assessed the Federal Reserve’s latest rate hike and prospects for further policy tightening. Spot gold was up 1.2% at $4,312.05 per ounce, as of 0848 GMT, after hitting a near six-week low on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures for December delivery were down 0.8% to $4,351. “I suspect the market may have gotten itself overpositioned on the expectation of a rate hike, as the likelihood grew. And now that it’s happened, those positions are being squared out,” said independent analyst Ross Norman.
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