SoFi CEO enters prepaid forward contract on 1.5 million shares
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* U.S. retail sales rebound strongly in January
* Verizon, Chevron jump as Buffett's Berkshire reveals big
stakes
* Hilton falls on third straight quarterly loss
* Futures: Dow flat, S&P off 0.06%, Nasdaq down 0.35%
(Adds comments, bullets, background; Updates prices throughout)
By Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal
Feb 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set for a
subdued open on Wednesday as investors stayed away from making
big bets ahead of the release of minutes from the U.S Federal
Reserve's January meeting.
The Fed has pledged to pin interest rates near zero until
inflation rises to 2% and looks set to exceed that goal, and
until the economy also reaches full employment.
That super-easy stance, coupled with the Biden
administration's proposed $1.9 trillion spending bill for
pandemic relief, has some analysts warning of a coming surge in
inflation.
"While the new package may be large, it will add stimulus to
an economy still below potential, and the spending will be
spread out over a couple of years," said Mark Haefele, chief
investment officer, UBS Global Wealth Management in Zurich,
Switzerland.
"So while a near-term rise in inflation is likely, we expect
the Fed to look past that and keep rates on hold."
Data showed U.S. retail sales rebounded sharply in January
after households received additional pandemic relief money from
the government, suggesting a pick-up in economic activity after
being restrained by a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections late
last year. The Dow .DJI notched a record closing high on Tuesday led
by gains in cyclical sectors, although concerns over rising
interest rates kept the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX little changed.
"The reflation trade that has been good for stock markets as
it's driven by optimism around the recovery. But that will only
continue to a point and if yields start rising at a rate
considered too fast, sentiment will quickly change in stock
markets," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Rising inflation expectations also pushed benchmark 10-year
U.S. Treasury yields US10YT=RR to their highest level in a
year on Tuesday. US/
At 8:42 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 6 points, or
0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 2.5 points, or 0.06%,
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 48 points, or 0.35%.
Shares in Dow components Verizon Communications Inc VZ.N
and Chevron Corp CVX.N jumped about 4% each in premarket
trading after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKa.N
disclosed major investments in the companies on Tuesday.
Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc HLT.N slipped
1.4% on reporting a third straight quarterly loss as bookings
fell due to coronavirus-induced travel disruptions.