U.S. Stocks May Lack Direction On Mixed Earnings, Economic News

Following the mixed performance seen in the previous session, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Wednesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures nearly unchanged.

A mixed batch of corporate earnings and U.S. economic news may lead to choppy trading on Wall Street early in the session.

Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) are surging by 6.7 percent in pre-market trading after the Google parent reported third quarter results that beat analyst estimates on both top and bottom lines.

Snapchat parent Snap (SNAP) is also spiking in pre-market trading after reporting better than expected third quarter results and announcing a $500 million stock repurchase program.

Meanwhile, shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are plunging by 7.8 percent in pre-market trading after the chipmaker reported third quarter revenues that beat expectations but provided disappointing fourth quarter revenue guidance.

Dow component Caterpillar (CAT) is also likely to come under pressure after the construction equipment maker reported weaker than expected third quarter earnings.

On the U.S. economic front, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. shot up by much more than anticipated in the month of October.

ADP said private sector employment surged by 233,000 jobs in October after jumping by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in September.

Economists had expected private sector employment to climb by 115,000 jobs compared to the addition of 143,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

However, a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter.

The Commerce Department said gross domestic product shot up by 2.8 percent in the third quarter after surging by 3.0 percent in the second quarter. Economists had expected another 3.0 percent jump.

The unexpected slowdown in the pace of GDP growth primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and a larger decrease in residential fixed investment.

Not long after the start of trading, the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to release its report on pending home sales in the month of September. Pending home sales are expected to jump by 1.1 percent in September after climbing by 0.6 percent in August.

The major U.S. stock indexes all moved higher during trading on Monday but returned to the mixed performance seen to close out the previous week on Tuesday.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a notable advance to reach a new record closing high, the Dow closed lower for the sixth time in the past seven sessions.

The Nasdaq climbed 145.56 points or 0.8 percent to 18,712.75, extending its winning streak to four days. The S&P 500 also rose 9.40 points or 0.2 percent to 5,832.92, but the Dow fell 154.52 points or 0.4 percent to 42,233.05.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.6 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.6 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index bucked the downtrend and jumped by 1.0 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has tumbled by 1.5 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 1.2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $1.35 to $68.56 a barrel after slipping $0.17 to $67.21 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $2,789.20, up $8.10 compared to the previous session’s close of $2,781.10. On Tuesday, gold surged $25.20.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 153.35 yen compared to the 153.36 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0814 compared to yesterday’s $1.0819.

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