Wall Street is heading for a slightly higher opening on Wednesday morning, although investors are likely to adopt a wait-and-see stance ahead of a speech by the Federal Reserve chairman.

Half an hour before the open, futures contracts on the Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 indices are up 0.3% to 0.4%, heralding a modest advance to start the session.

Fed boss Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak from 1:40pm in a debate organized by the New York Times.

The markets expect him to maintain a cautious approach to ongoing easing, and to continue to insist on his 'data-dependent' approach to monetary policy.

Last month, the chairman of the US central bank said that the institution was in no hurry to cut rates, given the strength of the latest economic indicators.

In the morning, investors are also awaiting industrial orders figures, followed by the ISM services index, which could reflect renewed optimism on the part of business leaders following Trump's victory and his promises of tax cuts.

On the labor market front, the private sector created 146,000 jobs in November, a number slightly below expectations, according to the monthly survey published on Thursday by ADP.

By way of comparison, economists were expecting an average of 158,000 private-sector job creations in the US last month.

On the other hand, US markets remain unmoved by political events in the eurozone, where the French government appears on the verge of collapse, and in Asia, where demonstrators are calling for the impeachment of the president following his failed attempt to impose martial law in the country.

Treasuries got off to a bearish start, more than erasing their recent gains, with investors expecting Jerome Powell to make some less than reassuring comments on rate trends.

The yield on the 10-year bond was up to 4.27% at the start of the day, compared with 4.22% last night.

The dollar is also on an upward trend as we await Jerome Powell's comments and Friday's employment figures, pushing the euro back below 1.05 to 1.0480 against the greenback.

Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.