Reports on Consumer Confidence and Existing Home Sales are the major highlight on Wednesday.
A sudden spurt of COVID-19 cases in China, Korea, Brazil as well as the U.S., probably due to a new variant, is keeping countries on high alert.
Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open higher.
As of 7.00 am ET, the Dow futures were up 256.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 21.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 43.50 points.
Asian shares finished mixed, while European shares are trading positive.
The U.S. major averages all finished Wednesday in the green. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was little changed, inching up 1.08 points or 0.1 percent to 10,547.11. The Dow rose 92.20 points or 0.3 percent to 32,849.74 and the S&P 500 crept up 3.96 points or 0.1 percent to 3,821.62.
On the economic front, the Commerce Department’s Current Account for the third quarter will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $225 billion, while the deficit in the prior month was $251.1 billion.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence for December is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 101.0, while it was up 100.2 in the prior month.
Existing Home Sales for November will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 4.20 million, while it was up 4.43 million in October.
The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status Report for the week will be released at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the Crude Oil Inventories were up 10.2 million barrels, and the Gasoline Inventories were up 4.5 million barrels.
Twenty-year Treasury Bond Auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.
Asian shares ended mixed on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.17 percent to 3,068.41. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up 0.34 percent to settle at 19,160.49.
Japanese shares extended losses for a fifth straight session. The Nikkei average dropped 0.68 percent to 26,387.72, while the broader Topix index closed 0.64 percent lower at 1,893.32.
Australian markets bounced back from four days of losses. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rallied 1.29 percent to 7,115.10 points. The broader All Ordinaries index ended 1.30 percent higher at 7,293.
European shares are trading higher on Wednesday. CAC 40 of France is progressing 68.22 points or 1.06 percent. DAX of Germany is adding 104.43 points or 0.75 percent. FTSE 100 of England is up 61.94 points or 0.84 percent. The Swiss Market Index is up 95.07 points or 0.89 percent.
Euro Stoxx 50 which provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is up 0.91 percent.
Business News
Wall Street Targets To Open Positive
2022-12-21 12:27:23
