Wall St set for muted open after Powell offers no new guidance on rate outlook

By Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta (Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes were poised for a muted open on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered no fresh policy signals, leaving investors to rely on older data to shape sentiment. While markets have priced in aggressive interest rate cuts on hopes that the Fed will prioritize labor market support, minutes from the central bank's September meeting released on Wednesday showed lingering inflation concerns. Investors will also tune in to remarks from other Fed speakers, including Board Governor Michael Barr and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly. Any hawkish tilt from policymakers could weigh on equities, which have held strong even during a seasonally weak stretch, partly on expectations of lower rates. At 08:43 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 18 points, or 0.04%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 2 points, or 0.03%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis fell 2.75 points, or 0.01%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 indexes closed at all-time highs on Wednesday. "We're headed for a big correction, but that correction is not likely to happen for a few months," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities. A quiet economic calendar has also prompted traders to closely assess earnings reports from PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines, whose forecasts and executive commentary are likely to be parsed for insights on consumer confidence. These indicators are expected to be used as substitutes for official releases, which have been halted due to the government shutdown, now in its second week. While their correlation with official data varies, some of these proxies have shown worrying trends. Earlier this week, investment firm Carlyle estimated that U.S. employers added just 17,000 jobs last month, far below the 54,000 estimated by economists polled by Reuters in the nonfarm payrolls report. Separately, spot gold prices held above $4,000 an ounce, after breaching the milestone for the first time earlier this week. Bullion's gains have highlighted the strong demand for hedging even as investors chase momentum in equities. However, Israel and Hamas signing off on the first phase of a proposed Gaza peace deal could help remove a long-term overhang on risk assets. Among stocks, PepsiCo rose 0.6% in premarket trading, after the beverage giant beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter revenue and profit, buoyed by resilient demand for its energy drinks and healthier sodas in the U.S. The company also named Walmart executive Steve Schmitt as its new finance head. Delta Air Lines shares jumped 8.2%. The airline provided an upbeat forecast for the current quarter, after posting stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Other U.S. carriers also gained. United Airlines rose 5.5%, while American Airlines and JetBlue Airways advanced 4.9% and 3.4%, respectively. U.S. retailer Costco Wholesale rose 1.2%, a day after reporting sales data for September. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Shilpi Majumdar)

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