Wall Street seen starting higher despite mounting fears of 'stagflation'

7.15am: Wall Street set for higher start

US stock futures point to a higher open in New York on Wednesday as investors try and brush aside fears over economic growth and the pandemic.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up around 18 points; the S&P 500 is ahead by 6.5 and the tech heavy Nasdaq is up over 36 points.

On Tuesday, US benchmarks finished lower. The DJIA fell by 291 points, or 0.83%, to 34,577, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.57% to 4,443. The Nasdaq dropped  0.45% to 15,037.

“We have seen increased signs of risk aversion across the financial markets in recent days, possibly because of fears over a slowdown in economic growth and rising inflation – or in other words, stagflation,” said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at ThinkMarkets.com.

“US government bond prices have started to rise again while volatility for equity markets have picked up somewhat and the safe-haven Japanese yen is just waking up from its summer slumber. Although some European indices and all major US index futures managed to regain some ground in the first half of today’s session, I wouldn’t be surprised if they go down again later on in the day.”

Razaqzada says the Dow Jones will be the index “to watch closely as stagflation concerns mount”.

Story by ProactiveInvestors