(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rebounded on Tuesday as dovish rate commentary from Federal Reserve officials helped lift the mood and investors looked for bargains after a rout in the previous session.
Most megacap and growth stocks, which together lost $200 billion in market value on Monday, gained in premarket trading with Nvidia bouncing 1.7%.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted losses of at least 3% each on Monday after weak economic data raised worries of a U.S. recession and the unwinding of sharp positions of carry trades that fund high-yielding assets.
U.S. central bank policymakers pushed back on Monday against the notion that weaker-than-expected July jobs data means the economy is in recessionary freefall, but also warned that the Federal Reserve will need to cut rates to avoid such an outcome.
"Our view remains that household and corporate balance sheets' strength implies recession is unlikely, but risks are building. If economic data continues to deteriorate, the Fed stands in a good position to respond aggressively," said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
Traders currently see a 75% chance of a 50-basis-point cut in Fed interest rates in September, down from 98% on Monday and expect the year-end rates at 4.25%-4.50%, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.
Top brokerages including J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo have forecast a 50-basis-point interest rate cut by the U.S. central bank in September after a surprisingly weak U.S. employment report for July.
A closely watched gap between the two- and 10-year benchmark yields turned positive on Monday, usually indicating the economy is heading into a downturn.
The CBOE Volatility index, also known as Wall Street's "fear gauge", was at 33.15 points after hitting a high of 65.73 on Monday.
At 5:16 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 85 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 19.5 points, or 0.37% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 59.75 points, or 0.33%.
Among other movers, Palantir Technologies surged 7.5% after software services provider raised its annual revenue and profit forecast for the second time this year.
CrowdStrike rose 2.9% after brokerage Piper Sandler raised its rating to "overweight" from "neutral".
(Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)