US stock futures tread water after Fed minutes spark a sell-off, while bitcoin slumps to a 1-month low

US stock futures tread water after Fed minutes spark a sell-off, while bitcoin slumps to a 1-month low

US stock futures wavered Thursday, struggling to recover from a global sell-off prompted by signs the Federal Reserve is ready to be more aggressive on interest rate rises and in cutting back on support for the US economy. futures were down 0.27% as of 6:10 a.m. ET, after technology stocks . Futures on the rose 0.24%, while those on the were up 0.06%, suggesting a cautious start to trading later in the day. With their hawkish tone, the Fed's December meeting minutes released Wednesday burst the early-year calm in markets. Officials agreed that a tight job market and high inflation mean they may not wait for more people to return to work before hiking interest rates. In mid-December, the US central bank said it would , or cutting back on its bond purchases, and signaled it would raise interest rates three times in 2022 to cool sky-high inflation. The minutes suggest the Fed might now reduce its balance sheet, as opposed to merely pulling back on its emergency asset buying — a move to quantitative tightening, to cut the amount of liquidity in the market. "The most notable development in the minutes undoubtedly came in the form of the Fed's