SummarySummary Companies Futures up: Dow 0.02%, S&P 0.13%, Nasdaq 0.24%Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged up on Thursday ahead of weekly jobless claims data, while fears of an impending recession brought on by an aggressive Federal Reserve kept investors on edge.
The U.S. central bank has raised its policy rate by 375 basis points this year to a 3.75%-4.00% range from near zero, the fastest rate hikes since the 1980s.
This aggressive approach by the central bank has stoked worries of a recession, with top executives of major U.S. banks and institutions including JPMorgan, BlackRock and Citi forecasting a likely economic downturn in 2023.
"The yield curve is hideously inverted, recession is coming, and stock markets usually bottom only after a recession has started," said Luke Templeman, thematic research analyst at Deutsche Bank.
ET, Dow e-minis were up 6 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 5.25 points, or 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 28 points, or 0.24%.