Wall St set for higher open as traders raise bets on bigger Fed rate cut

By Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal

(Reuters) -Wall Street was on track to open slightly higher on Friday as investors reevaluated the possibility of a bigger interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, while Boeing fell after the planemaker's factory workers went on strike.

Traders' bets of a 50-basis point rate cut jumped overnight, now standing at 43% compared with 14% on Thursday, CME's FedWatch Tool showed.

Former New York Fed President Bill Dudley said there was a strong case for a 50-bps interest rate cut. Separate media reports calling the decision "a close call" also added to the uncertainty.

"A couple of articles were published in the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times suggesting that a 50-bps move was still in play, which has led markets to once again reevaluate their expectations," Deutsche Bank analysts said.

The dollar came under pressure against major global peers, while yields on U.S. government bonds eased across the curve. [MKTS/GLOB]

Bets of the Fed sticking to a smaller 25-bps cut when it meets on Sept. 17-18 had firmed on Thursday following a slightly higher producer prices report, which came on the heels of the August consumer prices data.

"Markets want the FOMC to ease fast and get on with the risk of recession fighting. The meeting is a risky event and it will remain so regardless of the 25 or 50 bps easing next week," said Bob Savage, head of markets strategy and insights at BNY Mellon.

All major U.S. benchmarks had closed higher in the previous session, boosted by rising megacap stocks, keeping them on track for weekly gains.

Focus will be on the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey for September, which is expected around 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).

Dow E-minis were up 66 points, or 0.16%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 12.25 points, or 0.22%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 16.75 points, or 0.09%.

Futures tracking the economically sensitive Russell 2000 small cap index rose 1%.

Boeing fell 2.9% in premarket trading as its U.S. West Coast factory workers walked off the job early on Friday after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract deal.

Adobe slid 8.2% after the Photoshop maker forecast fourth-quarter earnings below analysts' estimates, while Oracle jumped 6.2% after the cloud computing company raised its fiscal 2026 revenue outlook.

Moderna fell 3.4%. At least three brokerages downgraded their rating on the vaccine maker's shares a day after it pushed back its break-even goal by two years and predicted 2025 sales below its forecast for the current year.

Chinese e-commerce firm PDD Holdings dropped 5.7% after the Biden administration said it was moving to curb low-value shipments entering the U.S. duty-free under the $800 "de minimis" threshold.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)