Futures Hold Gains After GDP Report

U.S. stock index futures held their gains across the board Wednesday even after the final read on first-quarter gross domestic product came in weaker than expected. The U.S. GDP expanded at a tepid 1.8 percent annual rate, according to the Commerce Department in its final estimate, cut from a previously reported 2.4 percent pace.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected first-quarter GDP growth would be left unrevised at 2.4 percent. "The 1.8 percent GDP is particularly alarming...If this is the best we can do, even after income bumps and an aggressive QE program, the domestic economy is even more fragile than what we already believed," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital. "There is a clear disconnect from what the Fed is reviewing and Main Street is living. The pathetic part of it all is Wall Street will see this as good news as stocks will most likely rally on hopes of an extended period for more bond buying." 

Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota told CNBC that the central bank needs to be clearer on the future of short-term interest rates, not just on when the central bank might start to taper its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program. Kocherlakota added that the market volatility really comes from uncertainty on when the Fed funds rate might go higher. Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) released a statement saying that it would provide cash to institutions that needed it. But despite the subsequent uptick in markets, analysts warned there was still plenty of uncertainty in the banking system.