WALL Street's main indexes were set for a lower open on Friday as U.S. Treasury yields hovered near multi-year highs following hawkish remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while the Middle East conflict kept investors jittery.
Israel levelled a northern Gaza district on Friday and hit an Orthodox Christian church where others had been sheltering, as it made clear that a command to invade Gaza was expected soon.
Speaking at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Powell said the U.S. economy's strength and continued tight labor markets could require tougher borrowing conditions to control inflation.
"It was good news that he insinuated that November is off the table for a rate hike," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.
"But he left the possibility open for additional rate hike ... the economy is still moving forward and inflation is still high so that's what has the market on edge."
Fed Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan, who is a voting member at this year's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), said on Thursday that recent data and higher borrowing costs gave the central bank space to deliberate on its next monetary policy move.
BofA Global Research said it now expects the U.S. central bank to deliver a 25-basis-point rate hike in December instead of November.
Comments from Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will also be on investor radar during the day as Fed officials will be entering a media blackout starting Saturday ahead of their meeting on Nov 1.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which briefly crossed 5% on Thursday for the first time since July 2007, was last at 4.9734%.
Traders see a near 99% chance the Fed will keep benchmark rates unchanged in November, while their bets for a pause in December stood at 75%, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.
All three major U.S. stock indexes, which ended nearly 1% lower on Thursday, were on course to log weekly declines.
On the earning's front, Oilfield services company SLB beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit, but its shares fell 2.6%.
At 8:39 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 110 points, or 0.33%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 16 points, or 0.37%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 68 points, or 0.46%.
SolarEdge slumped 30.1% after it warned of significantly lower revenue in the fourth quarter.
Shares of solar firms Enphase Energy and First Solar were also down 14.9% and 3.6%, respectively.
Intuitive Surgical fell 5.5% after the medical device maker missed analysts' estimates for quarterly sales.
Comerica rose 1.2% after the regional bank said it expected net interest income to decline again in the current quarter as lenders looking to retain customers get squeezed by higher costs on deposits. - Reuters
