Wall Street Might Open Modestly Lower

On a lean day of economic announcements, the Housing Starts and Permits data for April will be of interest to investors on Wednesday.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower.
Asian shares were broadly higher at the close, while European shares are trading lower.

As of 7.30 am ET, the Dow futures were down 198.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were losing 31.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were up 141.00 points.

On Tuesday, the U.S. major averages all ended higher. The Dow ended with a gain of 431.17 points or 1.34 percent at 32,654.59. The S&P 500 settled higher by 80.84 points or 2.02 percent at 4,088.85, while the Nasdaq climbed 321.73 points or 2.76 percent to settle at 11,984.52, just a few points off the day’s high.

On the economic front, the Housing Starts and Permits data for April will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for 1.765 million, while it was up 1.793 million in the prior month.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status Report for the week will be released at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the Crude Oil Inventories were up 8.5 million barrels, and the Gasoline Inventories were down 3.6 million barrels.

Twenty-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker will speak on the economic outlook before the virtual Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America CEO Talk at 4.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks finished mixed on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 7 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 3,085.98. The Shenzhen Component Index lost 0.24 percent to close at 11,203.26.

The Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange gained 42 points or 0.20 percent
Japanese shares finished up. The Nikkei 225 gained 251 points or 0.94 percent to end trading at 26,911.20.

Australia’s S&P/ASX200 closed trading at 7,182.70 after gaining 70 points or 0.99 percent.

European shares are trading lower. CAC 40 of France is down 9.58 points or 0.15 percent. DAX of Germany is adding 2.08 points or 0.01 percent. FTSE 100 of England is sliding 6.65 points or 0.09 percent. Swiss Market Index is up 3.17 points or 0.03 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 which provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is down 0.23 percent.

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