US Futures Largely Flat; Target and Lowe’s Earnings Impress By Investing.com – Investing.com

US Futures Largely Flat; Target and Lowe’s Earnings Impress By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening largely unchanged, with investors focusing on more earnings reports from big-name retailers as well as economic data from the housing sector.

At 7 AM ET (1200 GMT), the contract was down 35 points, or 0.1%, traded flat, while climbed 20 points, or 0.1%.

The three major indices closed higher Tuesday, boosted by strong earnings from the likes of Walmart (NYSE:) and Home Depot (NYSE:) as well as larger than expected growth for October, giving the economy a lift at the start of the fourth quarter.

That said, the gains were limited and the major averages are struggling to push significantly higher as higher inflation as well as the recovering economy look set to push the Federal Reserve to speed up the phase-out of asset purchases, bringing forward the likely first interest rate hike.

This was illustrated by comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President , who called on Tuesday for two rate hikes in 2022 to bring inflation expectations back under control. Bullard has been at the hawkish end of the policy spectrum for the last couple of years and his