U.S. stock futures slipped on Wednesday ahead of the outcome of a Federal Open Market Committee meeting, and on the heels of another record-setting day for Wall Street.
How are stock-index futures trading?
- Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YM00,
-0.05% were flat at 35,924 - S&P 500 futures ES00,
-0.02% were unchanged at 4,621 - Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00,
+0.09% rose slightly to 15,968
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
What’s driving the market?
All three major benchmarks logged record closing highs for a third straight trading session, the first time that has happened since December 2019. Resilient corporate results have done much of the heavy lifting for stocks recently.
Investors will turn their focus to the outcome of a two-day Fed meeting, where Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues are expected to confirm the start of a reduction in bond purchases. The announcement is due at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, followed by a news conference with Powell at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
“The QE [quantitative easing] taper announcement will likely be seamless, what may be less seamless is the rate discussion. Now that the major central banks are shifting toward a more hawkish policy stance, except for Japan and the European Central Bank (ECB), there is a rising pressure on the Fed to start thinking about ‘thinking about’ raising rates,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, in a note to clients.
Investors will also get a report on October private-sector payrolls from ADP at 8:15 a.m. Eastern, followed by the final Markit services purchasing managers index at 9:45 a.m., and the Institute for Supply Management’s services index for October and September factory orders, both at 10 a.m.
Elsewhere, the Caixin China services purchasing managers index showed robust growth was maintained in October, as the index hit its highest level since July.
On the corporate front, health insurer Humana HUM,
What companies are in focus?
- Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY,
+9.62% climbed 86% in premarket trading after the retailer late Tuesday announced a partnership with grocery chain Kroger KR,+0.62% . The popular meme stock also said it was ahead of its share buyback schedule. - Shares of Activision Blizzard ATVI,
-2.12% tumbled 11% in premarket after the videogame publisher’s lighter-than-expected outlook and expected delay of two games overshadowed an earnings beat. - Lyft LYFT,
-2.33% shares surged 11% after the ride-share company posted a 73% annual rise in revenue.
How are other assets trading?
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.526% fell 2 basis points to 1.529%. Yields and debt prices move in opposite directions. - Oil futures pulled back, with the U.S. benchmark CL00,
-1.72% dropping 1.8% to $82.38 a barrel. Oil extended losses from Tuesday’s regular session after the American Petroleum Institute reported a 3.6 million barrel-rise in U.S. supplies for the week ended Oct. 29, according to sources. Gold futures GC00,-0.40% fell 0.3% to $1,783.20 an ounce.
