US stock futures fell Thursday morning after the major averages closed in August with losses and investors considered the Fed’s fight against inflation.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 196 points, or 0.62%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.8% and 1.16%, respectively.
These moves follow four consecutive days of losses in the major averages. On the last day of August, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 0.9%. The S&P 500 lost about 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell about 0.6%.
The Dow closed the month down 4.1%, while the S&P and Nasdaq posted losses of 4.2% and 4.6%, respectively.
Investors are debating whether stocks will once again challenge their June lows in September, a historically weak month for markets, after assessing recent hawkish statements from Federal Reserve officials who showed no signs of easing interest rate hikes.
On Wednesday, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said she… Expect interest rates to rise above 4% before the central bank starts to back down. The current fed funds rate is 2.25% -2.50.
“If we retest the lows, I think it will happen in September,” SoFi’s Liz Young said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”
However, she added, “I think in order to do that, something has to get worse than it was on June 16,” when stocks hit bottom, like earnings reviews that come in worse than investors expect.
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