Futures retreat as Treasury yields rise, Tesla slides

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Wednesday as Treasury yields rose on expectations the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates higher for longer, while a slide in Tesla and Netflix shares was set to weigh on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Tesla Inc dropped 2.8% in premarket trading after the electric-vehicle maker cut prices on some of its Model Y and Model 3 vehicles in the United States, the sixth time it has lowered prices this year.

The company is due to report January-March quarter results after the closing bell on Wednesday.

Netflix Inc slipped 1.6% after the video-streaming pioneer beat Wall Street earnings estimates for the first quarter but offered a downbeat forecast.

The benchmark S&P 500 closed at a more than two-month high on Tuesday as strength in some big technology stocks countered disappointing quarterly reports from Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs.

Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley, regional lender U.S. Bancorp, oilfield services firm Baker Hughes and healthcare firm Abbott are among the companies reporting results before the opening bell.

While the start of the earnings season has been largely supportive for equities, investors will be closely watching updates from market heavyweights as well as consumer companies for signs of inflation and an economic slowdown hurting margins.

Mixed economic data recently has fueled bets that the U.S. central bank will hike interest rates by 25 basis points in May, with traders giving nearly 85% odds for such a move, as per CME Group’s Fedwatch tool.

The 2-year Treasury yield, most reflective of short-term rate expectations, hit a one-month high of 4.27% on Wednesday and the 10-year yield hit a four-week high as traders scaled back expectations of rate cuts later this year. [US/]

The Fed’s “Beige Book”, a snapshot of the health of the U.S. economy, will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT), and investors will scrutinize it for impact on the recent banking crisis on economic activity. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman is set to speak later in the day.

At 05:49 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 165 points, or 0.48%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 25.5 points, or 0.61%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 120.75 points, or 0.92%.

Western Alliance Bancorp rallied 15.5% after the regional bank posted stronger-than-expected earnings and said its deposits had stabilized after the March banking crisis.

Shares of banks First Republic Bank, Zions Bancorporation and Pacwest Bancorp rose between 1.1% and 4.1% in premarket trade.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)

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