Darden earnings, existing home sales, jobless claims: 3 things to watch

Investing.com -- Stocks lost momentum on Wednesday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank still has plenty of work to do to tame inflation.

The Fed paused on its interest rate increases last week, but Powell told Congress it isn't done yet as it works to push inflation back to its 2% annual target. That implies more rate hikes could be coming this year. The Fed raised its outlook for the benchmark rate, saying it's going to reach 5.6% this year. An earlier forecast had it rising to 5.1%. The new target implies another two rate hikes of a quarter of a percentage point each.

Futures traders see a 74% probability that the first quarter-point rate hike is coming in July.

Fed officials will be assessing the data and evidence that their work so far has gained traction. They have raised rates 10 times since early 2022 in a bid to quash inflation, which was running at multi-decade highs after the pandemic.

Some Fed officials sounded more hesitant to raise rates next month, however. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said the Fed could step back and assess its progress. "We should let the hard work the committee has already done work its way through the economy," he said Wednesday.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow: 

1. Darden earnings

Restaurant chain group Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) is expected to report earnings of $2.54 a share on $2.77 billion in revenue. Analysts will be listening to what executives say about consumer spending trends.

2. Home sales

Existing home sales data for May are expected out at 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT). Analysts expect to see a 4.25 million annualized reading, slightly below the prior month.

3. Jobless claims

Data on jobless claims for last week are due out at 8:30 ET. Analysts are expecting initial claims to be 260,000, about even with the week earlier.