Nasdaq futures edge higher as battered megacaps rise

Nasdaq futures edge higher as battered megacaps rise

(Reuters) – Nasdaq futures ticked higher on Monday, supported by gains in beaten-down megacap growth stocks after a recent rally in U.S. Treasuries showed signs of cooling, while Meta Platforms rose on reports of a fresh set of layoffs.

Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc, Tesla Inc and Microsoft Corp added between 0.2% and 1.1% before the bell as yields on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note edged lower after hitting a fresh six-week high earlier in the day. [US/]

A fall in Treasury note yields indicate traders expect greater return from investments in risky assets.

Meanwhile, Meta climbed 1.4% on reports over the weekend that the Facebook parent is preparing to announce a fresh round of job cuts ahead of finalizing its teams budgets.

The major U.S. stock indexes ended the week previous lower, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq clocking its first weekly loss this year. Investor sentiment was dented by fresh concerns that the Federal Reserve would keep higher interest rates for longer.

Markets will await January inflation and retail sales data through the week to reassess their bets on the central banks monetary policy path henceforth.

Money markets expect the Fed to raise the benchmark interest rate to 5.2% in July, levels that New York Federal Reserve President John Williams favored last week.

At 6:53 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 18 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.5 points, or 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 50.5 points, or 0.41%.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)