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U.S. stock futures traded mixed on Wednesday, as investors awaited the outcome of a Federal Reserve meeting and more corporate results, on the heels of results from Apple and other tech titans.
How are stock benchmarks trading?
-
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-0.03%
fell 21 points to 34,933; -
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
+0.18%
rose 6 points to 4,401; -
Nasdaq-100 futures
NQ00,
+0.29%
rose 41.75 points, or 0.3%, to 14,989.
On Tuesday, the Dow Industrial Average
DJIA,
fell 85.79 points, or 0.2%, to 35,058.52. The The S&P 500
SPX,
declined 20.84 points, or 0.5%, to 4,401.46 to snap a five-session winning run. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
dropped 180.14 points, or 1.2%, to 14,660.58, its largest one day fall since May 12.
What’s driving the market?
The selloff in tech stocks in Hong Kong and China abated on Wednesday, as the Hang Seng closed 1.5% higher after consecutive drops of at least 4%.
Read: Market fragility lingers as VIX climbs even with U.S. stocks rising to peaks, BofA says
Investors will be watching shares of Apple, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet, which all reported late Tuesday. That’s with earnings from fast-food giant McDonald’s
MCD,
and health insurance group Humana
HUM,
due ahead of the open, followed by social media group Facebook
FB,
online payments processor PayPal
PYPL,
chip group Qualcomm
QCOM,
and auto maker Ford
F,
after the close.
That’s as investors await a policy decision at the conclusion of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, with an announcement due at 2 p.m. Eastern, followed by a news conference with Chairman Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. Investors are hoping for clarity on when the central bank will begin tapering of monthly bond purchases, though economists say that may not be forthcoming.
Read: Watch for the Fed to tiptoe toward tapering this week
And: Fed is walking ‘bit of a tightrope’ between downside risks and inflation
Fresh worries about global economic growth amid the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus may have eased up inflation pressures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday recommended that Americans — even fully vaccinated — in U.S. counties with “substantial or high” rates of COVID-19 wear masks in public indoor spaces.
Investors will also get data on advance trade in goods for June,
Which companies are in focus?
-
Apple Inc.
AAPL,
-1.49%
shares slipped 1.5% fell in premarket trading after the iPhone maker said profit nearly doubled, but also projected a growth slowdown. -
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-0.87%
shares rose 0.8% after the software giant topped $60 billion in annual earnings for the first time at the end of a record-breaking year. -
Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
-1.59%
stock jumped over 3% after the Google parent reported strong advertising sales that sent revenue and earnings well past analysts’ estimates. -
Starbucks Corp. shares
SBUX,
-0.02%
fell over 2% after the coffee group swung to a quarterly profit, but also reported rising costs for Americas operations.
What are other markets doing?
-
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.261%
was up 2 basis points at 1.26%. Yields and debt prices move in opposite directions. -
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index
DXY,
+0.04% ,
a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up 0.1%.
