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U.S. stocks were poised for a mixed start, with technology stocks set to gain, but slight losses elsewhere, a day after a positive session on Wall Street driven in part by strong October retail sales data.
How are stock-index futures trading?
-
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-0.08%
were slightly lower at 36,051 -
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
-0.01%
were also modestly lower at 4,695 - Nasdaq-100 futures rose just under 0.1% to 16,313
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 54 points, or 0.2%, to close at 36,142. The S&P 500
SPX,
rose 18 points, or 0.4%, to 4,700 and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
jumped 120.01 points, or 0.8%, to end at 15,973.
What’s driving markets?
Stocks climbed on Tuesday as investors welcomed better-than-expected October retail sales data and a batch of corporate earnings.
Data showed retail sales jumped 1.7% , beyond forecasts for a 1.5% rise and the biggest gain since March when households received billions in federal stimulus money. Investors also got upbeat results from retailers like Walmart
WMT,
Stocks were set to pause though, after Tuesday’s run in the last full week of trading before Thanksgiving holidays.
“While investors are not reversing course from the stock market, rotation in our opinion is to blame for the uneven market performances,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital, in a note to clients.
Shares of Walmart rival Target
TGT,
fell 3.5% in premarket trading, even as the retailer beat quarterly earnings forecasts and lifted its forecasts.
Shares of Lowe’s
LOW,
surged 2.1% into record territory in premarket trading Wednesday, after the home improvement retailer reported fiscal third-quarter profit and revenue that beat expectations, a surprise increase in same-store sales and raised its full-year outlook.
Wednesday’s U.S. economic calendar will feature building permits and housing starts for October at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. And a packed schedule of appearances by Federal Reserve is ahead, with that list including New York Fed President John Williams, Fed Gov. Michelle Bowman, San Francisco President Mary Daly and Fed President Charles Evans.
Oil prices were falling as investors awaited inventory data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday. Oil has also been pressured by fears of possible joint selling of oil reserves by both China and the U.S., following a virtual meeting between President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping.
The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies rose by 655,000 barrels for the week ended Nov. 12, according to sources. West Texas Intermediate crude
CL00,
fell 0.9% to $80.08 a barrel, while Brent crude
BRN00,
fell 1% to $81.54 a barrel.
How are other assets trading?
-
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.637%
was flat at 1.630%. Yields and debt prices move in opposite directions. -
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
-0.10% ,
a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was steady. -
The Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
+0.12%
rose 0.1%, while London’s FTSE 100
UKX,
-0.32%
declined 0.3%. -
The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP,
+0.44%
rose 0.4%, while the Hang Seng Index
HSI,
-0.25%
fell 0.2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225
NIK,
-0.40%
fell 0.4%
