S&P 500; US Indexes Fundamental Daily Forecast – Direction Controlled by Treasury Yields

The major U.S. stock indexes are expected to open slightly higher based on the pre-market futures trade. The March E-mini S&P 500 Index is trading 2673.00, up 4.75 or 0.18%. The March E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average is at 24765, up 30 or +0.12% and the March E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index is trading 6582.75, up 27 or +0.41%.

Despite the small gains, traders are still nervous as interest rates climbed back toward multi-year highs.

In other news, CVS Health, Twitter and T-Mobile all reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Shares of CVS rose 1.2 percent in the premarket, while Twitter spiked 23.4 percent higher. T-Mobile traded 1 percent higher.

After the bell, AIG, Nvidia, Activision Blizzard, Expedia, News Corp., FireEye, Lions Gate and Skechers are scheduled to report.

Traders will be keeping an eye on comments from several Fed officials today. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan are all set to deliver remarks at their own individual speaking events.

In economic news, Weekly Unemployment Claims came in at 221K, better than the 232K forecast and lower than last week’s 230K.

Later today, investors will get to react to a report on mortgage delinquencies and a 30-year Bond Auction. Traders expect the 30-year yield to come in at 2.87 percent.

U.S. government debt yields are trading near four-year highs. Central bank news, both domestically and internationally, is expected to impact rates throughout the session.

Central banking announcements helped boost yields on Thursday. The Bank of England (BOE) held rates steady, but said it might need to hike rates faster and more frequently than previously expected to keep inflation in check.

The direction of the indexes today will be determined by trader reaction to Treasury yields. Rising yields could put a cap on the stock market gains. If yields move above the highs from earlier in the week, we could even see another steep sell-off in equities.