Futures climb ahead of Powell's testimony, economic data

U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday as investors awaited testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before Congress that could help determine the central bank's monetary policy path.

Powell kicks off two days of testimony with a hearing at 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) before the House Financial Services Committee, explaining to lawmakers why he is confident price pressures will keep easing without upending the job market or conversely why the window for a "soft landing" may be narrowing.

"Powell is likely to stick to the narrative of patience and data dependency this week, but given the intense market focus on Fed timing, there is potential for a market reaction, particularly in the Q&A," said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

Wall Street indexes closed more than 1% lower on Tuesday amid weakness in market leaders Tesla and Apple and as investor focus shifted to Powell and the Fed after signs of sticky inflation in February dampened hopes of early interest rate cuts.

Traders see a 69.1% chance of the first rate cut this year in June, as per CME Group's FedWatch tool. At the start of 2024, they were betting on March as the starting point for the Fed's easing cycle.

Investors will also be tracking private payrolls and job openings data, due later in day, ahead of the crucial nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.

At 6:55 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 73 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 14.75 points, or 0.29%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 105.75 points, or 0.59%.

Megacap growth and technology stocks rose in premarket trading, with Tesla recovering 0.9% after a 3.9% slide in the previous session, while AI darling Nvidia rose 1.1%.

U.S.-listed shares of China's JD.com advanced 11.9% after the e-commerce group reported fourth-quarter revenue above estimates and upsized its share repurchase program.

Shares of cryptocurrency-linked companies such as Coinbase Global and MicroStrategy gained 5.8% and 11.3%, respectively, as bitcoin rebounded.

CrowdStrike Holdings soared 24.3% after the company forecast annual results above Wall Street estimates, lifted by strong enterprise spending on cybersecurity to counter rising online threats.

Other cybersecurity stocks Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and Zscaler rose between 4% and 4.6%.