Wall Street Aims To Open Lower

The COVID-19 pandemic situation and political chaos in Afghanistan is a matter of concern for investors.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open on a negative bias.

Investors are looking ahead to Thursday’s meeting of the European Central Bank, which may act to slow down its massive bond-buying program in the light of recent stronger-than-expected inflation data.

Asian shares finished lower on Wednesday, while European shares are trading lower.

As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were declining 19.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were sliding 2.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were down 5.75 points.

The U.S. major stocks ended mixed on Tuesday. The Dow ended down by 269.09 points or 0.76 percent at 35,100.00. The S&P 500 settled at 4,520.03, recording a loss of 15.40 points or 0.34 percent, while the Nasdaq ended up by 10.81 points or 0.07 percent at 15,374.33, after climbing to a new all-time high of 15,403.44.

On the economic front, Redbook Data for the week will be published at 8.55 am ET. In the prior week, the Store Sales were up 18.6 percent.

Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey or JOLTS for July will be released at 10.00 am ET. The Consensus is for 10.00 am ET, while in the prior month, it was up 10.073 million.

10-year Treasury Note Auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

Beige Book, issued roughly two weeks before the monetary policy meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee, is scheduled at 2.00 pm ET.

Federal Reserve Board of Governors’ Consumer Credit for July will be published at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is for $25.0 billion, while it was up $37.6 billion in the previous month.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan to participate in Discussion of Economic Developments and Implications for Monetary Policy before virtual Town Hall hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas at 6.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday. Chinese shares ended on a flat note. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended down 0.12 percent at 26,320.93.

Japanese shares ended near a six-month high after GDP growth for April-June was revised up to an annual pace of 1.9 percent.

The Nikkei average climbed 265.07 points, or 0.89 percent, to 30,181.21, marking its highest since March 18. The broader Topix index closed 0.79 percent higher at 2,079.61.

Australian shares ended lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 18.30 points, or 0.24 percent, to 7,512 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 18.90 points, or 0.24 percent, at 7,807.50.

European shares are trading lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is sliding 19.94 points or 0.30 percent. The German DAX is losing 107.42 points or 0.68 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is declining 26.51 points or 0.37 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is sliding 105.55 points or 0.86 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.47 percent.