Stateside stocks futures cheered, while stocks overseas in Europe reversed earlier declines, amid a brightened assessment of US-China trade negotiation progress by the US Treasury Secretary.
Steven Mnuchin’s judgement echoed earlier remarks made in April, as he told reporters that negotiators were "90% of the way" to trade deal completion with China before talks broke down, adding; he is "hopeful" for an eventual accord as leaders of the two countries prepare to meet at the G-20 summit.
This morning’s developments, which had seemingly revived risk appetite, come after yesterday’s session, where US stocks fell the most in nearly a month as investors parsed comments from Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, amid growing expectations of a rate cut.
Powell had defended the central bank’s independence at an event Tuesday, stating that it is "insulated" from political and market pressures as officials debated its next move on interest rates.
"The Fed is insulated from short-term political pressures, what is often referred to as our independence" Powell said, adding; "The question my colleagues and I are grappling with is whether these uncertainties will continue to weigh on the outlook and thus call for additional policy accommodation", remarks of which had trimmed hopes for an interest rate cut in July.
The S&P 500 finished -0.98% lower, securing its biggest one-day drop since May 31, having been down move than -1% just minutes before the closing bell.
The Dow Jones fell -0.71%, also its biggest drop since May 31, while the Nasdaq Composite’s lost -1.72% of its value, the index's largest decline since early June.
Ahead, in today’s economic calendar, Wednesday includes; Durable Goods Orders and Wholesale Inventories for May at 8:30am EST, followed by Oil Inventories for the week ended June 21 at 10:30am EST.
In corporate news; General Mills (GIS), KB Home (KBH), Rite Aid (RAD), Pier 1 Imports (PIR), BlackBerry (BB) and Paychex (PAYX) are amongst the major companies to report today.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
China & Trade: Mnuchin: ‘We were about 90% of the way’ on China trade deal and there’s a ‘path to complete this’. (CNBC)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC in Manama, Bahrain on Wednesday, that the US and China were almost there on a trade deal. “We were about 90% of the way there (with a deal) and I think there’s a path to complete this”.
ECONOMIC CALENDAR
Today's Economical Announcements.
08:30AM - ★★★ - C. Durable Goods (MoM) (May) (Previous: 0%)
08:30AM - ★★☆ - Durable Goods (MoM) (May) (Previous: -2.1%)
08:30AM - ★☆☆ - Wholesale Inventories (MoM) (Previous: 0.8%)
10:30AM - ★★★ - Crude Oil Inventories (Previous: -3.106M)
STOCKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pre-Market Movers & News Related Stocks.
Micron Technology (MU): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 26 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.05 per share. Top line results exceeded analysts’ projections. Micron said it expected demand for its chips to rebound later this year.
General Mills (GIS): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 6 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 83 cents per share. Revenue was below forecasts, however, hurt by lower snack demand in the North American market.
FedEx (FDX): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted quarterly profit of $5.01 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $4.85, while revenue was also slightly above forecasts. However, FedEx also warned that the US-China trade dispute and the end of its contract with Amazon.com would hurt its fiscal 2020 results.
Slack Technologies (WORK): [RATING] Rated “outperform” in new coverage at Baird, which notes Slack’s early penetration in the market as well as strong growth and competitive position.
BlackBerry (BB): [EARNINGS] Earned an adjusted 1 cent per share for its latest quarter, beating the consensus for a breakeven performance. Revenue was below forecasts, but BlackBerry benefited from its purchase of cybersecurity firm Cylance.
Apple (AAPL): [NEWS] Bought autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai for an undisclosed price.
Energizer Holdings (ENR): [UPGRADE] Upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Deutsche Bank, which said the Street is overemphasizing declining Rayovac sales, and undervaluing positive trends in the Energizer-branded battery business.
Netflix (NFLX): [NEWS] Will lose its most-watched TV show, “The Office,” in 2021 to a new streaming service being launched by Comcast. Separately, Walt Disney (DIS) hired Netflix executive Matt Brodlie to lead international content development for its Disney+ service.
Wayfair (W): [NEWS] Employees are planning a walkout today, over the online furniture retailer’s alleged sale of bedroom furniture to a Texas detention facility for migrant children.
Tesla (TSLA): [NEWS] Has delivered 49,000 vehicles in North America during the soon-to-end second quarter, according to news website Electrek. That could mean that Tesla would not meet CEO Elon Musk’s projection last month that Tesla would beat its all-time quarterly delivery record of 90,700.
IHS Markit (INFO): [EARNINGS] Reported adjusted quarterly earnings of 71 cents per share, 6 cents a share above estimates. Revenue essentially matched forecasts. The company’s operating costs grew at a slower rate than its income, helping to boost the bottom line.
Walmart (WMT): [NEWS] Walmart plans a public listing of a minority stake in its Japanese supermarket unit Seiyu, but added that it plans to keep a majority stake in the business.
Kinder Morgan (KMI): [NEWS] Will be allowed to begin work on a $2 billion natural gas pipeline in Texas without having the state’s energy regulator approve the proposed route.
Lyft (LYFT), Uber (UBER): [NEWS] Ride-hailing services will face higher access fees at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport, with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey proposing a $4 per vehicle charge for app-based services that pick up or drop off at those airports.
Big Lots (BIG): [NEWS] Chief Financial Officer Timothy Johnson will step down in August. At the same time, the discount retailer reaffirmed its financial forecast for the current quarter and full year.
MOMENTUM STOCKS
GAINERS: ELAN
DECLINERS: ABBV, EPZM, CARS, LEN, RAMP, ROKU, Z, ZM, KNX
TODAY'S IPOs
BlackRock Science and Tech. (BSTZ) (Price: 20) (Est. Vol: $100.0M)
Cambium Networks (CMBM) (Price: 12) (Est. Vol: $69.6M)
Linx (LINX) (Price: 9.68) (Est. Vol: $283.4M)
