  We analyze the dynamical nearest-neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor spin
correlations in the 4-site and 8-site dynamical cluster approximation to the
two-dimensional Hubbard model. Focusing on the robustness of these correlations
at long imaginary times, we reveal enhanced ferromagnetic correlations on the
lattice diagonal, consistent with the emergence of composite spin-1 moments at
a temperature scale that essentially coincides with the pseudo-gap temperature
$T^*$. We discuss these results in the context of the spin-freezing theory of
unconventional superconductivity.
