By Saumya Vaishampayan
U.S. stock futures were little changed Wednesday ahead of the
release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy
meeting.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost one point to 18000.
S&P 500 futures fell two points, or 0.1%, to 2094, while
Nasdaq-100 futures added one point to 4383. Changes in stock
futures don't always accurately predict moves in the stock market
after the opening bell.
The release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy
meeting at 2 p.m. EST is likely to dominate investors' attention
Wednesday.
"It's all about the Fed minutes and how the wording may indicate
whether or not the Fed is preparing for a June rate hike," said
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at broker-dealer Rockwell
Global Capital. He said he expects Fed officials to show concern
about low inflation, the eurozone's economy and geopolitical
developments, suggesting that they could leave rates on hold until
later this year.
Investors will receive several economic readings Wednesday. The
producer-price index is expected to fall 0.4% in January, according
to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Separately,
housing starts are expected to decline 1.7% in January to 1.07
million.
Stocks ended Tuesday with slight gains. The S&P 500 added
0.2% to 2100.34, hitting a fresh record. The Dow industrials rose
0.2% to 18047.58, a high for the year.
Major stock indexes have pushed to or near record highs in
recent sessions, recovering from a turbulent January. The S&P
has notched two record closes this year, and the Dow remains just
below its all-time closing high of 18053.71. Part of the rebound
stems from corporate earnings that have come in better than
initially feared, with profits at S&P 500 companies on track to
rise 4.1% from a year ago, according to FactSet.
In earnings news, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. said
fourth-quarter revenue rose 7%, beating expectations. Still, the
hotel company gave a soft earnings outlook for 2015. Shares fell
1.9% premarket.
European stocks rose broadly, with France's CAC 40 gaining 0.8%
and Germany's DAX rising 0.5%. Greece will seek an extension to its
rescue deal from the rest of the eurozone on Thursday. An extension
would prevent Greece's current bailout from expiring at the end of
February and give it time to reach a new agreement.
In commodity markets, gold futures lost 0.2% to $1205.70 an
ounce. Crude-oil futures fell 1.8% to $52.55 a barrel.
Treasury prices rose slightly, pushing the 10-year yield down to
2.133% from 2.141% on Tuesday.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
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