U.S. stock index futures dipped in evening trading on Wednesday, reversing direction following a bullish session on Wall Street, as doubt remained about the scope and scale of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decreases.

While Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated that the bank will eventually lower interest rates in 2024, he added that the Fed required greater confidence that inflation was falling. This notion was supported by other comments by Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who stated that he did not expect the Fed to decrease interest rates more than twice this year.

Wall Street indices rose on Wednesday as Powell's remarks sparked some confidence about rate cuts this year. However, futures carried little of the upward momentum and substantially reduced early gains following Kashkari's remarks.

S&P 500 Futures declined 0.2% to 5,103.00 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.3% to 18,991.0 points by 19:54 ET (00:54 GMT). Dow Jones Futures declined 0.1 percent to 38,655.00 points.

Kashkari expects one or two rate cuts in 2024.
Kashkari told WSJ Live that he expects no more than two rate decreases in 2024, and possibly only one.

He emphasized recent economic resiliency in the United States, which might support inflation expectations and provide the Fed greater room to raise interest rates.

Kashkari's remarks match those made by other Fed members in the last two weeks, who have stated that persistent inflation may undermine expectations of early rate decreases.

Higher long-term interest rates tend to weigh on the economy and reduce corporate earnings, while also undermining the attraction of risky assets like equities.

Nonfarm payrolls numbers anticipated on Friday are likely to provide additional insights into the US economy.

Wall Street continues to approach record highs.
Following a dramatic drop earlier this week due to strong profit-taking in the technology sector, Wall Street indexes returned to near-record levels on Wednesday.

Tech remained the primary driver of US stock indices, particularly as investors remained optimistic about the potential of artificial intelligence.

The S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 5,104.76 points, while the NASDAQ Composite gained over 0.6% to 16,031.54 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, reaching 38,661.05 points.

Victoria's Secret tumbles in aftermarket trade, while OneSpan rises.
Victoria's Secret & Co (NYSE:VSCO) fell 20% in aftermarket trading after providing lower-than-expected expectations for 2024.

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On the other hand, cybersecurity business OneSpan Inc (NASDAQ:OSPN) jumped over 30% after reporting quarterly earnings that above expectations.

New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYSE:NYCB) continued to recover in aftermarket trading, increasing 1.2% after the ailing regional raised more than $1 billion in new capital.