Futures Suggests Wall Street To Open Broadly Lower

The Housing Starts and FOMC minutes might be the focus on Wednesday. Asian shares finished mixed, while European shares are trading lower.

In the Asian trading session, the U.S. dollar held firm, and gold hovered near record levels. Oil extended gains for a third straight session in view of oil supply disruptions in the U.S. and Russia.

Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly lower.

As of 7.40 am ET, the Dow futures were down 69.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 3.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were adding 9.00 points.

The U.S. major averages posted modest gains on Tuesday. The S&P 500 rose 14.95 points or 0.2 percent to 6,129.58, the Nasdaq inched up 14.49 points or 0.1 percent to 20,041.26 and the Dow crept up 10.26 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,556.34.

On the economic front, the Housing Starts and Permits for January will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 1.397 million, while it was up 1.499 million in the prior month.

Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations for February is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. In the prior month, the Inflation Expectations were up 2.2 percent.

E-Commerce Retail Sales for the fourth quarter will be published at 10.00 am ET. In the prior quarter, the sales were up 2.6 percent.

Twenty-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC Minutes will be announced at 2.00 pm ET.

Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson will speak on ‘Household Balance Sheets’ before the Martin H. Crego Lecture in Economics event hosted by Vassar College at 5.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.81 percent to 3,351.54. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 0.14 percent to 22,944.24.

Japanese markets ended slightly lower. The Nikkei average dipped 0.27 percent to 39,164.61. The broader Topix index settled 0.30 percent lower at 2,767.25.

Australian markets fell notably. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.73 percent to 8,419.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 0.66 percent at 8,699.10.

European shares are trading lower. CAC 40 of France is losing 63.29 points or 0.77 percent. DAX of Germany is down 183.73 points or 0.80 percent. FTSE 100 of England is declining 46.65 points or 0.53 percent. The Swiss Market Index is falling 77.37 points or 0.60 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 that provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is down 0.66 percent.

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