Wednesday, 22 February 2017

US equities to open flat; Fed minutes eyed

Posted by Fort Financial Services at 15:28 Labels:


Wall Street indexes were set for a flat open on Wednesday, as market participants awaited Fed February minutes and prepared for another round of remarks from FOMC officials. On Tuesday, US equities reopened after President Day’s holiday and reached all-time highs based on news from Washington and upbeat corporate earnings.
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.02 percent / 20,624.05 points

  • Standard & Poor’s 500: +0.17 percent / 2,351.16 points

  • Nasdaq Composite: +0.41 percent / 5,838.58 points

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Lieutenant General McMaster will replace Michael Flynn as national security advisor. The news helped to ease domestic uncertainty.
On the earnings front, retail Macy’s and Home Depot were in the spotlight. Macy’s exposed mix results while Home Depot reported better-than-expected profits. Later in the day, big names such as Tesla, Fitbit, Bayer and Six Flags are set to release their earnings. As for economic data, Markit preliminary manufacturing and services PMI for February came in below expectations at 54.3 and 53.9 respectively.
Today, market players will keep an eye on existing home sales for January at 15:00 GMT, with analysts pointing at a 1.1 percent build of 5.54 million units. Fed Governor Jerome H. Powell will give a speech as of 18:00 GMT and FOMC minutes will be released at 19:00 GMT.
In Europe, stock markets were moving upwards on Wednesday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 adding 0.4 percent as most sectors traded in green territory. Lloyds Banking Group stocks rose by more than 4 percent after it reported its highest yearly profit in over a decade.
Asian markets closed higher earlier today, following Wall Street upbeat performance and as traders continued to speculate on further details on the tax reform from Trump’s administration. The Japanese Nikkei 225 was almost flat at 19,379.87 points, with the yen trading at 113.43 per dollar. Automaker Toyota was up by 0.39 percent, while Sony added 0.40 percent.
Australian ASX 200 was able to recover from previous losses and advance 0.24 percent in the session to 5,805.09 points. RBA Governor Philip Lowe said that moving forward with interest rate cuts would not be good for Australia as it increases risks on household debt.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.85 percent, while China's Shanghai composite ended 0.23 percent higher at 3,260.93 points.

Fort Financial Services

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