Futures Point To Lower Open For Wall Street

Investors might be focusing on geopolitical developments and earnings on Wednesday.
China has announced sweeping changes in its COVID-19 response, in response to protest against nation’s zero covid policy. The Asian giant will allow home quarantine and will scrap the health QR code that has been mandatory for entry to public places.

In another development, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping will launch his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday. The new China-Saudi summit might be a new milestone and will open new vistas for China.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has said the tech giant will manufacture made-in-America chips in Phoenix, Arizona by 2024. Cook said it plans to tie up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Early cues from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower. Asian shares finished down and European shares were trading lower.

As of 7.00 am ET, the Dow futures were down 63.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 13.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 64.00 points.

The U.S. major closed firmly negative on Tuesday. The Dow slumped 350.76 points or 1.0 percent to 33,596.34, the Nasdaq plunged 225.05 points or 2.0 percent to 11,014.89 and the S&P 500 tumbled 57.58 points or 1.4 percent to 3,941.26.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Productivity and Costs for the third quarter will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for non-farm productivity is growth of 0.4 percent, while it was up 0.3 percent in the previous month. Unit labor costs for the third quarter were up 3.3 percent.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status Report for the week is scheduled at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were down 12.6 million barrels and the gasoline inventories were up 2.8 million barrels.

The Fed Consumer Credit for October will be released at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is $27.3 billion, while it was up $25.0 billion in September.

Asian stocks declined on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.40 percent to 3,199.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 3.22 percent to 18,814.82.
Japanese were notably lower on fears of recession. The Nikkei average dropped 0.72 percent to 27,686.40, while the broader Topix index finished marginally lower at 1,948.31.

Australian markets retreated on Wednesday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.85 percent to 7,229.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.86 percent lower at 7,423.20.

European shares are trading lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is declining 27.43 points or 0.41 percent. The German DAX is sliding 56.73 points or 0.40 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is losing 3.84 points or 0.05 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is declining 90.94 points or 0.82 percent.

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