Wall Street is poised for small gains on Friday as new indications the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates overshadow ongoing concerns over the fate of U.S.-China trade talks.
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In a speech on Thursday, Federal Reserve President John Williams urged the central bank to “act quickly” amid a slowdown in U.S. economic growth.
The comments, which investors interpreted as a nod to the expected rate reductions at the end of July, took markets into positive territory after declines for much of the day.
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A Fed spokesperson, however, later clarified that the speech was not meant to give any indication to the central bank’s pending decision at the two-day meeting beginning on July 30.
Later in the day, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida backed a quick cut to interest rates during an interview with FOX Business.
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While investors continue to guess at the Fed’s future actions, the dashed hopes for a quick trade deal with China after negotiations broke down in May continued to be a drag on the top three equity benchmarks. Weak earnings from Netflix also weighed on the exchanges.
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On Friday, strong financial results from Microsoft through June, as well as Boeing’s announcement that it would take a nearly $5 billion hit from the Max grounding, are expected to add to the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the open.
