Wall Street to open higher on tech recovery; Fed in focus

By Sruthi Shankar

REUTERS - U.S. stocks looked set to open higher on Tuesday as technology shares staged a recovery after a two-day rout, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve to kick off a meeting, where it is almost certain to raise interest rates.

Traders have priced in a 94 percent chance of the Fed raising interest rates. Investors are also looking for more details on the central bank's plans to trim its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.

The Fed is expected to release its decision at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) on Wednesday. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is due to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET.

 

A bout of profit-taking in richly-valued technology stocks caused the Nasdaq to suffer its worst two-day drop in more than six months on Monday.

However, technology stocks appeared to recover on Tuesday. Apple, which had sparked the selloff on Friday, was up 1.08 percent at $146.99 in premarket trading. Other technology heavyweights like Microsoft, Alphabet and Facebook were up marginally.

"It (the market) wants to wait and see if the Fed's going to actually raise rates tomorrow and then it wants to wait and see whether or not the tech stocks can actually rebound," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer at 50 Parks Investments in Florida.

"If (the rebound) holds and the Fed does raise rates tomorrow, it would bode very well for bulls."

At 8:23 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 23 points, or 0.11 percent, with 7,192 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.25 points, or 0.18 percent, with 201,462 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 19.25 points, or 0.34 percent, on volume of 13,643 contracts.

The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a plan on Monday to make sweeping changes to banking regulations, a prospect that has helped drive Wall Street to record highs.

The department proposed to reduce trading restrictions that big banks face, ease their annual stress tests, and curb the powers of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Shares of big banks that stand to benefit from these changes, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, were up in premarket trading on Tuesday.

Restaurant chain operator Cheesecake Factory was down 9.2 percent at $52.98 after it warned of a decline in comparable store sales in the current quarter.

Tesla was up 1.57 percent at $364.65 after Berenberg raised its rating on the stock to "buy" from "hold".

Online retailer Alibaba was up 1.8 percent at $141.6 after Raymond James raised its price target.

Shopify's U.S.-listed shares were down 1.7 percent at $87.36 after Goldman Sachs downgraded the Canadian e-commerce software maker's stock to "neutral" from "buy".

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)