US stock futures edged up on May 25 ahead of the much-awaited release of the minutes from the recent Federal Reserve meeting, which market observers will closely track for clues regarding the speed and extent of future interest hikes.
The Federal Reserve, in its meeting early in May, hinted at a more aggressive stance by hiking the cost of borrowing. Investors expect a series of 50-basis-point rate hikes over the next several months. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Ahead of the release, Wall Street futures inched up after the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 2.35 percent and the S&P 500 lost 0.8 percent on May 24.
The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six major rivals, rebounded 0.16 percent to 101.92, a level not seen since April 26.
Bullion dropped from near a fortnight-high, with the greenback rising from the lowest in almost a month's period.
During the May 4 meeting, the Fed raised its target for the overnight bank-to-bank lending rate by half a percentage point, to a range of 0.75-1 percent, and Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that similar-sized measures would be undertaken in June and July to tame the worst inflation in the 40 years.
Minutes are expected to highlight a consensus over the view that the Fed funds rate should be neutral by 2022-end. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic has publicly said he supports an expeditious return of monetary policy to a more "neutral stance" to bring down inflation that is currently running at more than three times the Fed's 2 percent target.
Bostic also said on May 23 that he would like to pause further rate hikes at the Fed's September meeting to allow time to assess the impact of tighter policy on the economy and inflation. The publication of minutes from the Fed's May meeting could show how widely held that view is, and what other options are under consideration.