1. Futures tread water
U.S. stock futures were muted on Wednesday, as traders pondered the outlook for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year and eyed an ongoing raft of corporate earnings.
By 03:28 ET (07:28 GMT), the Dow futures contract, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were all broadly unchanged.
The main indices on Wall Street were mixed at the end of the prior session, pulling some of the steam out of a recent rally in equities. Spurred on in part by a softer-than-anticipated monthly U.S. jobs report last week, many investors had pushed forward their projected timeline for a Fed rate reduction up to September from November. It would be the first cut since the central bank lifted borrowing costs to a more than two-decade high in a bid to quell elevated inflation.
However, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said in an essay on Tuesday that a host of recent economic data could suggest that monetary policy may be less restrictive than officials had initially thought. As a result, price growth may be “settling” above the Fed’s stated 2% target, Kashkari argued.
2. Uber, Arm Holdings to report
Ride-hailing group Uber Technologies and chip designer Arm Holdings are among a series of big-name companies due to unveil their latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
Investors will likely be keeping a close eye on Uber’s revenue and booking figures as they attempt to gauge the firm’s growth trajectory. At U.K.-based Arm, which collects money by licensing its designs to other semiconductor businesses, royalty and license revenues will be in sharp focus.
In extended hours trading, shares in social media group Reddit (NYSE:RDDT) soared after it offered upbeat revenue guidance for the current quarter that was underpinned by solid user growth. It also reported a first-quarter loss of $575.1 million, widening compared to the year ago period, due to expenses related to its initial public offering in March.
California-based Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) Automotive, meanwhile, reiterated its plan to manufacture 57,000 electric vehicles in 2024. However, this was below analysts’ expectations for a forecast of 62,277, according to a Visible Alpha poll cited by Reuters. Shares in Rivian dipped in afterhours dealmaking.
3. Toyota flags income drop despite annual profit almost doubling
Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) Corp, the world’s biggest automaker by vehicle sales, posted a sharp increase in its annual profit on Wednesday as sales were bolstered by increased demand for its hybrid offerings.
But the carmaker offered a more sobering outlook for the current year, as softer economic conditions in its biggest markets heralded weaker overall sales.
The Japanese automaker clocked operating income for the year to March 31, 2024, of 5.35 trillion yen ($34 billion), compared to a profit of 2.73 trillion yen for the prior year.
The increase was driven chiefly by stronger overall revenues, which also benefited from weakness in the Japanese yen.
4. U.S. revokes licenses to sell to China’s Huawei – reports
The U.S. has revoked licenses that let firms such as Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) send chips used in laptops and handsets made by Chinese telecoms equipment group Huawei Technologies, according to media reports.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Intel and Qualcomm were notified on Tuesday that the licenses had been revoked with immediate effect. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Commerce Department had confirmed that some licenses had been taken away, but did not name the specific companies impacted by the decision, media outlets said.
The move comes as Biden administration, which has already rolled out restrictions on the sale of U.S. technology to Huawei, faces increasing pressure from Republican legislators to further crack down on the business. National security officials in Washington have raised concerns that Huawei’s equipment is being utilized by Beijing to carry out cyber espionage activities — an assertion that Huawei has denied.
5. Crude prices slip
Crude prices retreated Wednesday as industry data showed an increase in U.S. crude inventories, a sign of weak demand in the world’s largest energy consumer.
By 03:27 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 1.1% lower at $77.50 per barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 1.1% to $82.24 a barrel.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday that U.S. oil inventories grew 0.5 million barrels in the week to May 3, coming in ahead of expectations for a draw of 1.4 million barrels.
Official U.S. government data on stockpiles from the Energy Information Administration are due later in the session.
Meanwhile, Israel kept up its offensive against Rafah in southern Gaza on Tuesday, the day after Hamas officials reportedly accepted a new ceasefire proposal. Still, U.S. officials said a ceasefire could still be reached, as delegates from both sides met in Cairo for negotiations.
Source: Economy - investing.com
