U.S. stock futures firm ahead of data, Fed, earnings MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open in what's promising to be a busy Wednesday with first-quarter gross domestic product, a decision from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and plenty of earnings on tap. S&P 500 futures rose 6 points to 857.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 7.5 points to 1,368. Dow industrial futures rose 46 points. U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as worries over more capital injections for Bank of America and Citigroup in the wake of their "stress tests" trumped consumer-confidence data. The market has been fairly resilient to bank-solvency and health scares, but bulls are frustrated by a rally that has stalled out around 8,000 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The economic calendar will take center stage on Wednesday with markets getting a first look at first-quarter real GDP. Analysts at RDQ Economics expect U.S. growth to show another large decline, despite an expected 1.25% increase in real consumer spending, which is about 70% of final demand. At 2:15 p.m. Eastern, the Fed will release a policy statement after its two-day meeting. Analysts expect officials will go out of their way not to make any announcement or take any action that would disturb what they hope is a nascent recovery underway. Also on the calendar will be the Treasury Department's quarterly refunding announcement. Market speculation has centered around whether the Treasury Department may issue a 50-year bond. See full story. The earnings front is busy, with major companies already reporting in Europe and more due during U.S. trading hours. Siemens (SI: Sie) and Sanofi-Aventis () all topped estimates in Europe, w Financials Sponsored by: SNY 27.16, -0.07, -0.ith all of those shares trading higher, lifting the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 by 1.1%. Shares of German software giant SAP () , however, were weaker after reporting a 16% fall in net profit, missing analysts forecasts. On the docket for the U.S. is a huge list of companies due to report including Time Warner () , Goodyear Tire & Rubber () , General Dynamics () and Qwest Communications (Q: Qwest Communications International Inc ials %) reports after the close of trade. In Asia, stocks were broadly higher as investors began to look past flu headlines, but trading was subdued amid a Japanese holiday. Oil futures rose 80 cents to $50.71 a barrel ahead of weekly energy inventories data, the dollar was up 0.8% vs. the euro and up 0.4% against the Japanese yen, while yields on 10-year Treasury bonds were mostly flat at 3
Follow through weakness in the Dollar also seems to be raising investor's risk appetite and the appeal of crude oil as an inflation hedge. In industry news, the UAE plans deeper supply cuts in June to Asian customers which may also be boosting oil market sentiment. Crude oil is certainly being supported by the strength in equity markets overnight tied to yesterday's economic reports showing improvements in regional manufacturing and consumer confidence while the slower pace in home price declines seems to be giving some traders hope that the worst of the recession may be past. Therefore, since crude oil is likely to start the US session out firm, we suspect any negative reaction off today's EIA report could be short lived even if crude oil stocks rise more than the 2 million barrels expected. In fact, if today's 1st quarter US GDP results shows a smaller contraction and provide a further boost to equities, it won't be surprising to see June crude oil rally back towards last week's highs.
got stopped out last night. right now holding shorts from 50.45. will try to hold right up till the reports.
wow, definitely should've waited before i shorted. we're moving up vigorously into a bearish report. i guess if it were easy it wouldn't be fun, but seriously, wtf is going on.
EIA report won't be factor today , only short term meaning only going into report release( unless huge 6 million etc..) Dolalr week, equity strong are 2 factors running oil
higher than expected build in oil. now all we need is for stocks to not break this multi-month high we're at.
1) "While crude stocks were up the market is apparently reacting to ... gasoline stocks," said James Williams, an economist at WTRG Economics. However, "from a big picture view it is difficult to see prices going anywhere but lower," he added. "Inventories of everything remain well above normal." 2) Also helping boost crude prices, U.S. stocks moved broadly higher and the dollar fell against most rival currencies, raising dollar-denominated commodities prices, as investors largely shrugged off worse-than-expected economic data. 3) Investors are also awaiting the Federal Reserve's announcment on the economy and monetary policy, due at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. 4) Earlier, the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product fell at an inflation-adjusted, annualized 6.1% rate in the first quarter, nearly matching the 6.3% decline in the fourth quarter of 2008. The two-quarter contraction is the worst in more than 60 years. The 6.1% decline in GDP was larger than the 5.1% contraction that economists surveyed by MarketWatch had been looking for. See Economic Report.
Got out of my ES trades with small profit. It's holding up very well. Small long at 50.40. Hopefully we can retrace back to 10:30 prices.