Pre-open movers
U.S. stock futures traded lower in early pre-market trade on Wednesday after closing mostly lower on Tuesday. The S&P 500 index dropped deeper into a bear market after hitting a fresh 2022 low. The S&P 500 is now down 24.3% from its record level in January, while the Dow is now 21.2% below its record high.
Data on international trade in goods for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US goods deficit is likely to narrow to $88.7 billion in August from $90.2 billion in the previous month. Data on wholesale inventories for August will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, while the pending home sales index for August is scheduled for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is set to speak at 8:35 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard will speak at 10:10 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at 10:15 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 11:00 a.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Investors are also awaiting earnings results from Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS), Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) and Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO).
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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 153 points to 29,050.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 25.75 points to 3,635.25. Futures for the Nasdaq index fell 127.25 points to 11,206.50.
Commodities
Oil prices traded lower as Brent crude futures fell 0.4% to trade at $84.52 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures fell 0.5% to trade at $78.09 a barrel. The American Petroleum Institute, on Tuesday, reported a gain of 4.150 million barrels for crude oil this week. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Gold futures fell 0.6% to trade at $1,625.80 an ounce, while silver traded down 2.1% at $17.955 an ounce on Wednesday.
A Peek Into Global Markets
Europe Markets
European markets were lower today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.3%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.6% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 0.1%. The French CAC 40 Index fell 1.2%, while German DAX dropped 1.6%.
Italian consumer confidence declined by 3.5 points from the previous month to 94.8 in September, while manufacturing confidence slipped to 101.3 in September a revised 104 in the earlier month. Consumer confidence in France fell to 79 in September from 82 a month ago. The GfK Consumer Climate Indicator in Germany dropped to -42.5 heading into October versus a revised -36.8 a month ago.
Asia-Pacific Markets
Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 3.4% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.6%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, while India’s S&P BSE SENSEX fell 0.4%.
The index of coincident economic indicators in Japan rose to 100.6 in July versus a revised 99.2 in the prior month, while index of leading economic indicators fell to 98.9 in July from 100.3 in June. Retail sales in Australia gained by 0.6% from a month ago to a fresh record level of AUD 34.88 billion in August.
Broker Recommendation
Baird initiated coverage on AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO) with an Outperform rating and announced a price target of $156.
AGCO shares fell 0.6% to close at $94.40 on Tuesday.
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Breaking News
- BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its second quarter, while sales missed estimates.
- Biogen, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) and Eisai Co. Ltd. (OTC:ESALY) announced late Tuesday positive results from a late-stage study of their Alzheimer’s treatment candidate.
- MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) filed for mixed-securities shelf offering.
- TCR2 Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:TCRT) shares gained over 9% in pre-market trading after the company announced it will discuss the complete Phase 1 portion of the gavo-cel Phase 1/2 clinical trial for mesothelin-expressing solid tumors on Wednesday, September 28th.
