Stock Futures Snap Back in Wait for Fed News
New York (Jun 15) Stock futures signaled that Wall Street would snap back Wednesday after four days of losses as investors awaited news from the Federal Reserve.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.18%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 0.25%, and Nasdaq futures rose 0.22%.
The Fed concludes a two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday afternoon with a statement and fresh forecasts, followed by Chair Janet Yellen's press conference. Chances of a June rate hike are virtually non-existent, but investors will be on high alert for clues to the timing of future rate increases.
"With a rate hike unlikely, the FOMC's 'dot plots' will likely be at the center of attention," said John Canally, chief economic strategist for LPL Financial. "Fed Chair Yellen's second post-FOMC meeting press conference of 2016 provides an opportunity for the Fed to add color to its view of the economy, inflation, and financial market volatility."
A July rate hike currently has a 23% probability, September a 37% probability, November a 38% probability, and December a 59% probability, according to CME Group Fed funds futures.
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Crude oil endured its fifth straight day of losses on Wednesday as investors continued to fret over a supply-demand imbalance. Crude has fallen to multi-year lows in the past year as supply ballooned, demand weakened and global economic growth slowed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 1.1% to $47.96 a barrel on Wednesday. Crude closed at a three-week low a day earlier.
It's a busy morning for economic data. Producer prices, to be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT, are expected to grow 0.3%. Industrial production data for the month, however, is expected to show the continued pressure of weaker international demand, a strong U.S. dollar and general weakness in manufacturing.
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (AEGR) spiked in premarket trading after agreeing to merge with fellow biotech company QLT (QLTI) . Each Aegerion share will be exchanged for 1.0256 QLT shares. The merger is expected to be completed by at least the end of the third quarter and the merged company will be called Novelion Therapeutics.
Twitter (TWTR) has invested around $70 million in music service SoundCloud. The latest investment is part of a round that should end up in the $100 million range, Re/code reported, and is expected to value SoundCloud at around $700 million.
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Source: TheStreet
