Trump announces trade deal with EU following months of negotiations
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* Futures down: Dow 0.21%, S&P 0.23%, Nasdaq 0.40%
By Ambar Warrick
Sept 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were lower on
Thursday after the Federal Reserve delivered a widely expected
interest rate cut but played down hopes of further monetary
easing.
New projections showed policymakers at the median expected
interest rates to stay within the new range through 2020,
disappointing investors who were hoping for additional cuts to
help blunt the economic fallout from the U.S.-China trade war.
Prolonged trade tensions between the world's two largest
economies have roiled equity markets and raised concerns about
slowing global growth, leading to stimulus actions from several
major central banks.
U.S. and Chinese deputy trade officials are set to resume
face-to-face talks on Thursday for the first time in nearly two
months, aiming to lay the groundwork for high-level negotiations
planned in early October.
Wall Street indexes ended slightly higher on Wednesday after
the central bank's monetary policy announcement. Expectations of
lower borrowing costs have supported U.S. stocks through the
year, with the S&P 500 benchmark index .SPX trading less than
1% below a record high hit in July.
At 7:11 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 56 points,
or 0.21%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 7 points, or 0.23%
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 31.5 points, or 0.4%.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and retailer Target Corp TGT.N
rose 1% and 2.1%, respectively, in premarket trading, after the
companies announced share buyback programs and quarterly
dividends. Content delivery network provider Akamai Technologies Inc
AKAM.O was down 2.6% after KeyBanc analysts downgraded the
stock to "sector weight" from "over weight". On the economic front, data at 8:30 a.m. ET is likely to
show a reading of 11 on the Philadelphia Fed business activity
index for September, down from 16.8 in August.