U.S. stock futures declined on Wednesday following Tuesday’s mixed trading. Futures of major benchmark indices were lower.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100’s retreat came as peace talks between President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European leaders failed to deliver a breakthrough.
After Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD), investors await Target Corp.‘s (NYSE:TGT) earnings today and Walmart Inc.‘s (NYSE:WMT) on Thursday.
Investors are also focused on the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell‘s speech later this week at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium for clearer signals on interest rates.
The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.31% and the two-year bond was at 3.76%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing an 82.9% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates for the Sept. 17 decision.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -0.23% |
| S&P 500 | -0.20% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.25% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.18% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, fell in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was down 0.13% at $638.95, while the QQQ declined 0.16% to $568.36, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session
Real estate, utilities, and consumer staples stocks recorded the biggest gains on Tuesday, with most S&P 500 sectors closing on a positive note. Information technology and communication services stocks, however, bucked the overall market trend and closed lower, contributing to a session where
U.S. stocks settled mostly down. The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 300 points as a lack of fresh bullish catalysts prompted investors to take profits following the recent months-long rally.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) rallied 7%, extending its monthly gains to 27%, after Japan’s SoftBank Group announced a $2 billion investment in the chipmaker. Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) jumped over 3% after posting a double beat on its latest quarterly results.
On the economic data front, U.S. housing starts climbed by 5.2% from the previous month to an annualized rate of 1.428 million in July. Building permits saw a decline of 2.8% to an annualized rate of 1.354 million in July.
The Dow Jones index ended 10 …