U.S. Stocks Seeing Modest Weakness Ahead Of Fed Minutes

Stocks are seeing modest weakness during trading on Wednesday, giving back ground after ending the previous session slightly higher. Selling pressure has remained subdued, however, limiting the downside for the major averages.

Currently, the major averages are off their lows of the session but still in the red. The Dow is down 184.56 points or 0.4 percent at 44,371.78, the Nasdaq is down 41.55 points or 0.2 percent at 19,999.72 and the S&P 500 is down 8.35 points or 0.1 percent at 6,121.23.

The modest weakness on Wall Street may partly reflect profit taking after yesterday’s slim gains lifted the S&P 500 to a new record closing high.

Lingering concerns about a global trade war are also weighing on the markets after President Donald Trump said he plans to impose tariffs on U.S. imports of automobiles, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.

Trump said the 25 percent tariffs could be imposed as early as April 2nd and warned the duties could “go substantially higher over a course of a year.”

However, overall trading activity is somewhat subdued, as traders look ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting this afternoon.

The minutes of the Fed’ January meeting, when the central bank decided to leave interest rates unchanged following three straight rate cuts, could shed additional light on the outlook for rates.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing housing starts pulled back by more than expected in the month of January.

Sector News

Housing stocks are seeing significant weakness on the heels of the housing starts data, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 1.8 percent.

A steep drop by Toll Brothers (TOL) is also weighing on the sector, with the homebuilder plunging by 6.1 percent after reporting weaker than expected fiscal first quarter results.

Considerable weakness is also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Networking, steel and software stocks are also seeing weakness on the day, while natural gas and computer hardware stocks have moved to the upside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are showing a lack of direction ahead of the Fed minutes. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 4.540 percent.

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