Wall Street Poised To Open In Negative Territory

The market is cautious on Wednesday and the Labor Department’s report on Consumer Price Inflation for April will get special attention.

Russia is continuing with a fierce attack on Ukraine and investors across the globe are keenly watching the developments.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open slightly lower.

Asian shares finished mostly down, while European shares are trading in a negative zone.

As of 7.20 am ET, the Dow futures were down 57.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 4.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 4.00 points.

On Tuesday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 77.36 points or 0.6 percent to 12,179.55 and the S&P 500 fell 18.95 points or 0.5 percent to 4,119.17. The narrower Dow closed down 56.88 points or 0.2 percent at 33,561.81.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index or CPI for April will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.4 percent, while it was up 0.1 percent in the prior month.

The Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations survey for May will be published at 10.00 am ET. In the prior month, the Expectations grew by 2.8 percent.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status report for the week will be issued at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were down 1.3 million barrels, and the gasoline inventories were up 1.7 million barrels.

The Ten-year Treasury Note Auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

The Treasury Department’s Statement for April will be released at 2.00 pm ET. The consensus is $410 billion, while in March it was down $378.1 billion.

In the corporate sector, Walt Disney, Amdocs, Beyond Meat, Tetra Tech and Kinross Gold have scheduled their quarterly results after the bell today.

Asian stocks fell broadly, while Chinese markets tumbled on Wednesday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell 1.15 percent to 3,319.15 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.53 percent to 19,762.20.

Japanese shares declined today. The Nikkei average closed 0.41 percent down at 29,122.18 while the broader Topix index slipped 0.55 percent to end at 2,085.91.

Australian markets edged down slightly. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.12 percent to 7,255.70. The broader All Ordinaries index finished marginally lower at 7,452.30.

European shares are trading lower. CAC 40 of France is down 14.86 points or 0.20 percent. DAX of Germany is declining 38.87 points or 0.24 percent. FTSE 100 of England is sliding 10.59 points or 0.14 percent. The Swiss Market Index is falling 49.50 points or 0.43 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 which provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is down 0.26 percent.

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