U.S. stock futures opened higher Tuesday afternoon after rallying during the regular trading day, as investors took in reassurances from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the central bank was set on using its policies to bring down inflation still running at multi-decade highs.
Contracts on the S&P 500 edged higher. The blue-chip index ended Tuesday’s regular trading day higher by 2% to settle at at 4,088.85. Technology and growth stocks that had been beaten down over the past month recovered some losses, sending the Nasdaq higher by 2.8%. And the cyclical small-cap Russell 2000 also shook off some recent losses, climbing 3.2%.
The market moves Tuesday came following a couple of solid reports on U.S. economic activity, showing both consumer spending and manufacturing production were holding up strongly. U.S. retail sales grew at a 0.9% rate in April after a sharply upwardly…
