The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced with Amazon and Facebook each advancing more than 4% and Netflix rising 6.7%
ASX futures were up 42 points or 0.7% to 5945 near 7am AEST. The local currency edged higher.
Shares were mixed in New York. The Dow slipped with 22 of its 30 components ending lower. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced with Amazon and Facebook each advancing more than 4% and Netflix rising 6.7%.
In the minutes from their latest meeting, US policymakers “generally indicated support” for tying rate-setting policy to specific economic outcomes. “A number” favoured a promise to leave rates low until inflation meets or even modestly exceeds the Fed’s 2% goal.
Most Fed officials are glass-half-empty, Amherst Pierpont chief economist Stephen Stanley said, in contrast to himself. They see risks of permanent damage and seem worried that the virus will never fully go away.
Members noted that they expected to maintain this target range until they were confident that the economy had weathered recent events and was on track to achieve the (rate-setting) Committee’s maximum-employment and price-stability goals, the Fed said in the minutes.
The US will release June jobs data tomorrow, a day earlier than usual because of the Independence Day holiday on Friday there. TD Securities expects a 4 million increase in jobs with the jobless rate at 13.3%.
Payrolls probably rose strongly again, TD said in a note. However, the renewed uptrend in COVID cases cautions against extrapolating; Homebase data show upward momentum stalling since the sample week. Despite the strength in payrolls, we expect the unemployment rate to remain around where it was in May, boosted by a rise in the participation rate and a fading of misclassification issues.
