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US stock futures traded lower ahead of the Federal Reserve’s economic and interest rate forecasts on Wednesday, which will be announced by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ek: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGE | 32825,95 | -127.51 | -0.39% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 3962.71 | -6.23 | -0.16% |
| I: COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITION INDEX | 13471.567189 | + 111.86 | + 0.09% |
Economists expect Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to try to convince bubbly financial markets that the central bank can continue to offer support without igniting inflation.
These concerns have recently boosted bond yields, causing declining demand for equities.
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The Fed meeting “holds the potential to allay or increase recent concerns about rising bond yields,” said Jingyi Pan, senior market strategist at IG in Singapore.
Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst in Asia-Pacific at OANDA, said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about China while visiting Japan and South Korea also dampened local sentiments.
US stock futures traded lower ahead of the Federal Reserve’s economic and interest rate forecasts on Wednesday, which will be announced by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. (Courtney Crow / New York Stock Exchange via AP)
“The remarks indicate that the relationship between the two superpowers is just as difficult as ever before and that it does not bode well for the meeting tomorrow and Friday between senior officials from both countries. “This state of affairs is contributing to the gloomy mood in China,” Halley said.
Blinken, after he and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with their Japanese counterparts on Tuesday, denounced China, saying, “We will push back if necessary, when China uses coercion or aggression to get its way.”
Wall Street limited a bad day of trading with indices that mostly closed lower. Losses by banks, industrial equities and consumer spending companies, including cruise line operators, outweighed the gains in shares of Big Tech and communications services.
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The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 3,962.71. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.4% to 32,825.95. The Nasdaq gained the trend, benefiting from the rise in technology stocks and by 0.1%, to 13,471.57.
The big technology names that skyrocketed in 2020 were among the profiteers. Apple increased by 1.6%, Google’s older Alphabet increased by 1.4% and Facebook by 2%.
Smaller business shares have outperformed the broader market. The Russell 2000 Index rose 1.7% to 2,319.52.
Investors weighed in on new economic data on Tuesday showing that Americans cut spending last month, partly due to bad weather in large parts of the country that kept traders away from stores, and partly due to stimulus payments in December and January.
Retail sales fell a seasonally adjusted 3% from the previous month in February, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Tuesday. The fall in February followed rising sales in January as people spent $ 600 on stimulus checks late last year. In fact, the Department of Commerce revised the rise to 7.6% in January from the 5.3% previously reported.
Meanwhile, the severe winter weather reduced industrial production by 2.2% in February, reflecting a large drop in production output.
“We are still returning to a more normal environment,” said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede. “Given the clumsiness of the government’s stimulus payments, we’re going to see numbers jump.”
Investors are betting big that this economic woes will go away as spring approaches and more Americans are vaccinated against the coronavirus. In addition, President Joe Biden’s administration began sending out $ 1,400 stimulus checks to individuals last weekend.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks fell in subdued trading on Wednesday as world markets cautiously awaited the US Federal Reserve’s latest assessment of the economy.
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Japan’s benchmark, Nikkei 225, fell less than 0.1% to end at 29,914.33. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.6% to 3,050.17. Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 6,795.20. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng decreased almost 0.1% to 29,014.67, while the Shanghai composition changed little, by less than 0.1% at 3,444.70.
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark oil rose 47 cents to $ 65.27 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 59 cents to $ 64.80 on Tuesday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 45 cents to $ 68.84 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 109.08 Japanese yen from 108.99 yen. The euro cost $ 1.1907, compared to $ 1.1903.
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AP business writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed.