US expects upcoming earnings season to be rocky

US equities fell overnight by 3.5-4 percent but investors are hoping for a steadier day on Friday, June 17. The broader theme remains that this is very much a globally synchronised tightening regime.

The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) hiked interest rates by 75 basis points (bps), Bank of England by 25 bps, and Swiss National Bank by 50 bps.

In the US, corporates will start to sound more and more cautious, but one will only start to hear that in full force form when the earnings season kicks off, starting mid-July or so.

Trade setup for June 17: Nifty50 could be headed to 15,000 after Fed sends it sinking below key support

US treasury yields — on the 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year tenures — fell between 8 bps and 10 bps, and the US dollar retraced notably. High-frequency data points in the US showed a slowdown, which means the US Federal Reserve is hiking into a slowing economy, and that is the reason why there are slowdown fears.

Indian equity benchmarks slumped to 13-month lows on Thursday, failing to hold on to initial gains, as nervousness set in across investors globally after the Fed announced the biggest hike in the key interest rate in almost three decades. Both Sensex and Nifty50 made a sharp U-turn into the red after managing to hold on to the green for just two hours of trade.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.5 percent. On Thursday, the three main Wall Street indices plummeted amid weakness in growth stocks. The S&P 500 fell 3.3 percent, the Dow Jones 2.4 percent, and the tech stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite 4.1 percent.

Equities in other Asian markets saw a mixed start to the day following a continued sell-off on Wall Street overnight, amid growing recession fears as more central banks scramble to tackle red-hot inflation after the Fed's largest rate hike since 1994.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 2.2 percent. China's Shanghai Composite held up 0.4 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng one percent.