Futures Point To Lower Open For Wall Street

Initial signs from the U.S. Futures point to a lower open for Wall Street on Wednesday.

Asian shares were down at the closing, while European shares were also in a negative trend.

In the Asian session, the dollar held near a one-month high. Gold extended overnight slide.

As of 7.40 am ET, the Dow futures were falling 125.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 17.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 77.25 points.

The U.S. major averages all ended in the red on Tuesday. The Dow settled with a loss of 231.86 points or 0.62 percent at 37,361.12. The S&P 500 ended down 17.85 points or 0.37 percent at 4,765.98.

On the economic front, Retail Sales for December will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is up 0.4 percent, while it was up 0.3 percent in the prior month.

The Import and Export Prices for December will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of 0.6 percent, while it was down 0.4 percent in November.

The Industrial Product for December is scheduled at 9.15 am ET. The consensus is for a decline of 0.1 percent, while it was up 0.2 percent in the prior month.

The Housing Market Index for January will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for 38, while it was up 37 in December.

Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations will be revealed at 10.00 am ET. In the prior month, the expectations were up 2.4 percent.

The Beige Book, published two weeks before the monetary policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee will be released at 2.00 pm.

Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr will speak on ‘Cyber Risk’ before the 2nd Annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Federal Reserve System Conference on Measuring Cyber Risk in the Financial Services Sector at 9.00 am ET.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman will participate in the discussion, ‘The Path Forward for Bank Capital Reform,’ before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Protect Main Street Lending Event at 9.00 am ET.

New York Fed President John Williams will give opening remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at 3.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks declined on Wednesday. The Shanghai Composite index fell 2.09 percent to 2,833.62 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index plunged 3.71 percent to 15,276.90.

Japanese markets fell modestly. The Nikkei average ended 0.40 percent lower at 35,477.75. The broader Topix index closed down 0.30 percent at 2,496.38.

Australian stocks ended lower. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 slipped 0.29 percent to 7,393.10 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed down 0.32 percent at 7,622.50.

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