Monday, 27 March 2017

Wall Street futures heads south following Trumpcare failure; FOMC speeches eyed

Posted by Fort Financial Services at 16:30 Labels: Wall Street

US equities pointed to a lower opening on Monday amid an empty agenda and as traders looked ahead of a fresh batch of economic data and FOMC speakers.
Wall Street indexes ended mixed on Friday after Donald Trump suffered one of his major politicals hits since he officially became President of the United States.
The American Health Care Act (AHCA), a law meant to repeal and replace the so-called Obamacare, was pulled on Friday before moving to Congress for voting.
The bill faced strong opposition in several fronts, even from GOP members. According to political analysts, there were between 28 and 35 Republicans ready to vote against Trump’s AHCA on Friday, although the new administration couldn’t afford more than 21 no-votes.
From a market perspective, this is a big downturn for Trump’s government. The AHCA was the first serious legislation presented to the Congress and a key piece designed to take away one of Barack Obama’s biggest achievements. Investors saw the healthcare bill as an example of whether Trump can coordinate efforts with Congress or not. Everything is a bit clearer now.
With the AHCA off the road, focus has shifted to other pending questions, such as the long-awaited tax reform or deregulation measures. Uncertainty starts to play again in traders’ minds, slowly but steady. Will Trump present its tax reform? When? What about Congress?...
The Dow Jones industrial average closed nearly 60 points down after showing its worst performance in months on Thursday. The S&P 500 also ended in red territory, with materials dragging it down. The Nasdaq composite was able to finish on the upside.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.29 percent / 20596.72 points
Standard & Poor’s 500: -0.08 percent / 2343.98 points
Nasdaq Composite: +0.19 percent / 5828.74 points

On the data front, core durable goods order for February came in at 0.4 percent, a tick below market expectations. However, the full index showed a 1.7 percent increase from last month, above an estimated 1.2 percent. Preliminary readings on the manufacturing and services PMI for March were also released during the session. Manufacturing fell short at 53.4 points from a forecasted 54.8 points, while services came in at 52.9 points against 54.2 points seen.
Investors were also paying attention at Baker Hughes’ weekly oil rig count. According to the oilfield service provider, the number of oil rigs in the US increased by 21 units to 652.
On Sunday, a joint committee from OPEC and non-OPEC countries said an extension of the current output cuts was going to be taken for further consideration. The oil cartel and other independent producers such as Russia have agreed to shred 1.8 million barrels for the first semester of 2017, with the goal of rebalance oil supply and push up crude prices.

Fort Financial Services