U.S. stock futures are lower in pre-market trading for Thursday, March 22.The Dow Futures are trading at 24,546.00  with a loss of -0.73% percent or -181.00 point.  The S&P 500 Futures are trading at 2,698.75  with a loss of -0.72% percent or -19.50 point.The Nasdaq Futures are trading at 6,801.25  with a loss of -1.20% percent or -82.75 point.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 are trading at 21,591.99 for up  with +0.99% percent or  +211.02 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng are trading at 31,215.74  with a loss of -0.63% percent or  -198.78 point. China’s Shanghai Composite are trading at 3,263.48  with a loss of  -0.53% percent or  -17.47 point. India’s BSE Sensex are trading at 33,124.73  with a loss of -0.03% percent or -11.45 point at 12:15 PM.The FTSE 100 are trading at 7,002.95  with a loss of -0.51% percent or  -36.02  point. Germany’s DAX are trading at 12,189.65  with a loss of -0.97% percent or -0.97% point. France’s CAC 40 are trading at 5,193.00 with a loss of  -0.89% percent or -46.74 point. The Stoxx Europe 600 are trading at 372.32  with a loss of -0.73% percent or -2.74 point.

Thursday’s Factors and Events

“If you look how the dots came out, a lot of people were looking for a shift upward in the 2018 dots,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management. “They upgraded the outlook of the labor market and we know that inflation expectations have moved higher … but I think it’s just really Powell just buying some time here.”

The closely-watched yield curve steepened Wednesday after the yield on the two-year Treasury note fell from 2008 highs above 2.36 percent to 2.308 percent as investors grew more confident that the Fed would not hike rates four times in 2018.

Wednesday’s Activity

U.S. market were lower on Wednesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 24,682.31   with a loss of -0.18% percent or  -44.96 point. The S&P 500 closed at 2,711.93 with a loss of -0.18% percent or -5.01 point. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,345.28  with a loss of -0.26% percent or  -19.02 point.

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,579.30 for up with +0.57%percent or +8.90 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 964.15  for up  with +0.49% percent or+ 4.72 point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 1,924.69 for up with +0.31% percent or  +5.95 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,189.53   with a loss of -0.24% percent or -2.90 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,608.57  with a loss of -0.09% percent or  -1.41 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,504.48 with a loss of -0.14% percent or -2.14 point; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closed at 24,682.31  with a loss of -0.18%  percent or -44.96 point.