Wall Street Might Open Slightly Down

Ahead of the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks, early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower on Wednesday.

Other Fed speeches and reports on private sector employment and service sector activity are important for investors today.

Asian shares finished in negative territory, while European shares are trading mostly higher.

In the Asian session, gold ticked lower after mixed comments from a pair of Federal Reserve officials. Crude prices extended gains amid concerns around crude and fuel supplies.

As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were down 2.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 3.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 28.00 points.

The U.S. major averages ended Tuesday’s session in the red. The Dow tumbled 396.61 points or 1.0 percent to 39,170.24, the Nasdaq slumped 156.38 points or 1.0 percent to 16,240.45 and the S&P 500 slid 37.96 points or 0.7 percent to 5,205.81.

On the economic front, the ADP Employment Report for March will be released at 8.15 am ET. The consensus is 150,000, while it was up 140,000 in the prior month.

The PMI Composite Final for March is scheduled at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is 52.2, while it was up 52.2 in February.

The ISM Services Index for March will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 52.7, while it was up 52.6 in the previous month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status report for the week is expected at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were up 3.2 million barrels, and the gasoline inventories were up 1.3 million barrels.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak on the economic outlook before the Stanford Business, Government and Society Forum at 12.10 pm ET.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman to speak at the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation Roundtable on Lender of Last Resort at 9.45 am ET.

Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr will participate in a discussion before the National Community Reinvestment Coalition at 1.10 pm ET.

Fed Governor Adriana Kugler will speak on before a conversation hosted by the Washington University in St. Louis at 4.30 pm ET.

Asian stocks tumbled on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.18 percent to 3,069.30.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped 1.22 percent to 16,725.10.

Japanese markets closed sharply lower. The Nikkei average fell 0.97 percent to 39,451.85 while the broader Topix index settled 0.29 percent lower at 2,706.51.

Australian markets fell. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 dropped 1.34 percent to 7,782.50 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 1.38 percent at 8,033.60.

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