Wall Street Set To Open Broadly Lower

Investors are likely to keep an eye on the Commerce Department’s report on new home sales in the month of May on Wednesday.

Asian shares finished higher, while European shares are trading mostly lower.

As of 8.05 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 22.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 0.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 2.25 points.

The U.S. major averages finished positive on Tuesday. The Dow rose 68.61 points or 0.2 percent to 33,945.58, the Nasdaq advanced 111.79 points or 0.8 percent to 14,253.27 and the S&P 500 climbed 21.65 points or 0.5 percent to 4,284.44.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department’s Current Account for the first quarter is scheduled at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $207 billion, while the deficit was $188.5 billion in the prior quarter.

IHS Markit’s PMI Composite Flash for June will be issued at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is for 67.9, while it was up 68.1 in May.

The Commerce Department and the Housing and Urban Development department’s New Home Sales report for may will be released at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for 881K, while it was up 863K 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 down 7.4 million barrels and the Gasoline Inventories were up 2.0 million barrels, while Distillate Inventories were down 1 million barrels.

Two year FRN Note auction will be held at 11.30 am ET, and five-year Treasury Note auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Wednesday. Chinese stocks gained ground. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rose 8.81 points, or 0.25 percent, to 3,566.22 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended up 507.31 points, or 1.79 percent, at 28,817.07.

Japanese shares ended on a flat note. The Nikkei average finished marginally lower at 28,874.89, while the broader Topix index closed 0.53 percent lower at 1,949.14.

Australian markets ended lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 43.70 points, or 0.60 percent, to 7,298.50 after climbing 1.5 percent in the previous session.

European shares are trading mostly lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is down 40.56 points or 0.61 percent. The German DAX is losing 88.29 points or 0.56 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is gaining 22.04 points or 0.31 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is sliding 15.25 points or 0.13 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.65 percent.