Futures off, Fed’s Williams on installments, Google order

Investing.com — U.S. futures were broadly near flat as traders revised their outlook for the Federal Reserve’s potential interest rate path. Meanwhile, Google is vowing to appeal a landmark order from a US judge requiring the search giant to open up its Android operating system to its rivals, and Chinese stocks pared early gains after the country’s state economic planner the country has not announced a series of expected fiscal budgets. stimulus measures.

1. Disabled futures

U.S. stock futures hovered around flat on Tuesday as investors reassessed the outlook for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut ahead of upcoming inflation and corporate earnings data.

By 04:03 ET (08:03 GMT), the contract and were largely unchanged, while adding 13 points, or 0.1 percent.

Wall Street’s main averages fell in the previous session as some traders backed away from bets that the Fed could cut borrowing costs at its next meeting in November after last week’s successful jobs report in September.

Instead of a second straight cut of 50 basis points, markets now anticipate the central bank will roll out a more traditional cut of a quarter point, CME Group’s (NASDAQ: ) FedWatch tool showed. The odds that the Fed will leave rates unchanged in their current range of 4.75% to 5.00% have also increased.

US Treasury yields, which typically move inversely to prices, rose. The benchmark 10-year note climbed even above 4% for the first time in two months.

2. Fed’s Williams says US economy ‘well positioned’ for soft landing – FT

The Fed’s current policy stance is now “very well positioned” to achieve a soft landing for the US economy, New York Fed President John Williams said.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday, Williams said the robust jobs report showed rates were at a level that “hopefully” supports the continued strength of the world’s largest economy and its domestic strength market of work, while reducing once-high inflation back to the central bank’s 2% target.

He defended the Fed’s very large interest rate cut last month, saying it allowed borrowing costs to remain at restrictive levels but still removed “significant” pressure on the economy, the FT reported.

Williams added that the latest “dot plot” of officials’ projections, which indicated cuts of two-quarters of a point at the Fed’s final two meetings in 2024, remains a “very good base case.” However, he stressed that the central bank is not on a “predetermined course”, echoing comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

3. Google asked to open up Android to rival app stores

Google Alphabet (NASDAQ: ) has been ordered by a US judge to reconfigure its Android operating system to allow rivals to create their own app marketplaces and payment options, marking a setback for the tech giant’s defense against antitrust claims.

The order by US District Judge James Donato in San Francisco blocks Google from banning in-app payment methods for three years and forces the search engine to allow users to download competing third-party Android app platforms.

Google is also restricted from making payments to device manufacturers to pre-install its app store.

The ruling came after “Fortnite” maker Epic Games prevailed in a high-profile antitrust case against Google. Epic had accused Google of stifling competition through its app store and payment system.

Google has vowed to appeal, arguing that while the changes will satisfy Epic, they will cause “unintended consequences” that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers. Alphabet shares fell 2.5% on Monday after the announcement.

4. Chinese markets cut earnings

Chinese markets rose sharply on Tuesday as trading resumed after the Golden Week holiday, although analysts signaled disappointment that Beijing stopped short of introducing new fiscal stimulus measures, capping gains.

The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and China indexes rose between 4% and 6% after opening as much as 13%.

Sentiment was initially boosted by a series of major stimulus measures announced by Chinese officials ahead of the holiday season, including interest rate cuts and looser housing market rules. The moves were seen as a push by Beijing to shore up the country’s ailing economy in time to meet an annual growth target of 5 percent.

On Tuesday, China’s state economic planner said he continued to have “full confidence” that the economy will meet that target, but investors were disappointed by the lack of details on an anticipated fiscal stimulus program.

5. The oil collapses

Oil prices fell on Tuesday as traders took some profits from a strong rally on the back of fears that an all-out war in the Middle East would hurt supplies from the oil-rich region.

Soft reactions to comments from the state economic planner in China — the world’s biggest oil importer — also weighed on crude.

By 04:04 ET, the contract was down 1.4% at $79.80 a barrel, while futures (WTI) traded 1.5% lower at $76.00 per barrel.

Both contracts rose more than 3 percent on Monday to their highest levels since late August, adding to last week’s 8 percent gain, the biggest weekly gain in more than a year.

Elsewhere, the latest US crude inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute is due later in the session, with analysts expecting stocks to rise by 1.9 million barrels.