US STOCKS-Wall St futures slip as yields and oil rebound; Fed minutes in focus

‌Wall ​Street futures edged lower on Wednesday as Treasury yields and oil prices rose again, keeping investors cautious as they awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq ‌and the benchmark S&P 500 ended at all-time highs on Tuesday as AI optimism propelled tech stocks higher and investors braced for a solid third-quarter earnings season. The blue-chip Dow remains about 5% below its August 5 record closing high.

On Wednesday, however, sentiment turned more cautious ‌as investors reassessed the outlook for interest rates and energy costs. Brent crude was back above the psychologically important $100-a-barrel level as ‌Middle East supply concerns persisted. The yield on 30-year Treasury bonds rose to the highest since 2002, up 5.70% ahead of the release later in the day of minutes from the US Federal Reserve's September policy meeting, when policymakers raised interest rates to combat inflation.

Traders now see a 78% chance of the US ⁠central bank ​holding interest rates steady this month, ⁠though a December rate hike remains largely priced in, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. Chip stocks were lower in premarket trading, with Micron Technology and ⁠Marvell Technology down 2.2% and 1.2%, respectively.

SpaceX shares fell 2.1% after a Financial Times report that the rockets-to-AI firm was seeking $40 billion in financing to ​fund purchases of Nvidia chips. Intel rose 1.3% after a Bloomberg News report said the chipmaker would continue to ⁠work on Elon Musk's Terafab chipmaking venture.

At 6:02 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 178 points, or 0.34%, and S&P 500 E-minis were down 11.25 points, or 0.14%. ⁠Nasdaq ​100 E-minis were down 129.25 points, or 0.41%. The third-quarter earnings season kicks off next week, with a number of high-profile financial firms expected to report on Tuesday.

Analysts currently expect S&P 500 earnings growth of 30.6%, in aggregate, for the July-to-September period, ⁠led by an expected 114.7% jump in energy earnings, followed by a 66.5% estimated surge in tech results, according to LSEG. While ⁠the 30% profit growth is ⁠smaller than in the second quarter, when S&P 500 companies posted a 54% jump in earnings, investors expect a largely positive season to underpin record-high stock markets.

Among other movers, Constellation Brands fell ‌4.5% after the Corona ‌beer maker lowered its annual operating margin forecast.