U.S. Stock Futures Fall
August 19 2015 - 9:10AM
Dow Jones News
U.S. stocks were poised for a slightly lower open Wednesday,
weighed down by continued sharp swings in Chinese markets and a
pair of weak earnings reports from retailers.
The downbeat tone for stocks around the globe was kicked off in
China, where shares spent most of the session in negative territory
before a late-day turnaround. The Shanghai Composite Index ended up
1.2% after falling as much as 5% earlier. The sharp moves sparked
declines in other Asian markets, including in Japan and Hong Kong.
The losses continued in Europe, with Germany's DAX down 1.4% and
France's CAC-40 losing 0.9%.
Stock futures indicated a 0.4% opening loss for the S&P 500.
Changes in futures aren't necessarily reflected in market moves
after the opening bell.
Still, investors warned against reading too much into early
stock moves in an environment with lighter-than-average trading
volumes.
The focus should shift to the path of U.S. interest rates later
in the day. The Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its
latest policy meeting at 2 p.m. EDT, possibly offering clues about
the likelihood of an increase in rates at the central bank's
September meeting.
While the Fed minutes provide an illustration of the debate on
raising rates, they're somewhat outdated at this point, said Jack
Caffrey, equity portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. The
meeting took place before China's currency devaluation and a
continued slide in oil prices, which could give officials pause,
while solid hiring in July could boost the case for higher
rates.
"I'm not going to try to parse [the minutes]...because I'm
recognizing that they are stale," said Mr. Caffrey.
Along with the Fed, Mr. Caffrey said he's looking for wage
increases to spur the long-awaited pickup in consumer spending. "A
better paid workforce is...more willing to spend and better able to
spend, which could make for what we think is an extended cycle," he
added.
In earnings news, Lowe's Cos. on Wednesday reported
weaker-than-expected profit growth in its second quarter. Shares
slipped 1.2% in premarket trading.
Staples Inc. said its profit fell in the second quarter as sales
continued to decline and store traffic dwindled. The company said
it remains on track with its takeover of Office Depot Inc. shares
fell 2.6% premarket.
Meanwhile, Target Corp. lifted its profit outlook for the year
after posting stronger-than-expected earnings in its second
quarter. Shares of the retailer rose 4.6% in premarket trade.
Second-quarter earnings season is winding down. With results
from 474 companies in the S&P 500, profits are on track to slip
0.7%, according to FactSet. Going into earnings season, analysts
had forecast a 4.5% decline.
In commodity markets, gold futures added 0.4% to $1121.20 an
ounce. Crude-oil futures lost 0.5% to $42.93 a barrel.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 19, 2015 08:55 ET (12:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Lowes Companies (NYSE:LOW)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Lowes Companies (NYSE:LOW)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024