Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

Following the notable pullback seen over the course of the previous session, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Wednesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by less than a tenth of a percent.

Uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets may keep some traders on the sidelines on the heels of yesterday’s pullback.

The downturn on Tuesday, which was led by tech stocks after Dutch chipmaker ASML (ASML) warned of “customer cautiousness,” came after the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs on Monday.

Traders may also be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of several key economic reports on Thursday.

Reports on weekly jobless claims, retail sales and industrial production are likely to be in focus as traders look for additional clues about the outlook for the economy and interest rates.

The Labor Department released a report this morning showing a continued decrease by prices for U.S. imports in the month of September.

The report said import prices fell by 0.4 percent in September after slipping by a revised 0.2 percent in August. The decline matched economist estimates.

Compared to the same month a year ago, import prices edged down by 0.1 percent, marking the first year-over-year decrease since February.

The Labor Department also said export prices slid by 0.7 percent in September after slumping by a revised 0.9 percent in August. Economists had expected export prices to fall by 0.4 percent.

Export prices in September were down by 2.1 percent compared to the same month a year ago, reflecting the largest year-over-year decrease since January.

Among individual stocks, shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) are seeing notable pre-market strength after the financial giant reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) is also likely to see an initial jump after reporting better than expected third quarter results.

After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks came under considerable selling pressure over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages all moved notably lower following the strong gains posted during Monday’s session.

The major averages fell to new lows late in the trading day before regaining some ground going into the close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 187.10 points or 1.0 percent to 18,315.59, the Dow slid 324.80 points or 0.8 percent to 42,740.42 and the S&P 500 fell 44.59 points or 0.8 percent to 5,815.26.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.8 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are inching up $0.10 to $70.68 a barrel after plunging $3.25 to $70.58 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $2,696.10, up $17.20 compared to the previous session’s close of $2,678.90. On Tuesday, gold climbed $13.30.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 149.38 yen compared to the 149.20 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0888 compared to yesterday’s $1.0893.

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