Stock market news live updates: Stock futures mixed after earnings, Fed decision
Stock futures were mixed Thursday morning amid a mixed batch of corporate earnings results and a Federal Reserve decision that signaled the central bank was still looking for the U.S. economy to recover further before adjusting its monetary policies.
Contracts on the S&P 500 gained. The index ended Wednesday’s regular session in the red but hovered just 0.5% below its recent all-time closing high. Contracts on the Dow also rose, while those on the Nasdaq dipped.
The discussion around when the Fed will announce and begin the tapering of its pandemic-era asset purchase program has become a key concern for market participants, given that this quantitative easing has been central in underpinning asset prices over the past year. The Federal Reserve has continued to carry out purchases totaling $120 billion per month in U.S. Treasuries and agency mortgage-backed securities, though Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled in his Wednesday press conference that the time to taper these could come “in the coming meetings.”
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