Wall Street pointed modestly lower Wednesday as markets remain anxious about lingering inflation and the potential for fewer interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were both down about 0.1% before the bell.
That follows Tuesday's slide, when bond yields rose following a couple of encouraging reports on the economy, including the job market and services sector. While those reports are positive for workers and indicate a healthy economy, which can also promote inflation and make the Federal Reserve less likely to deliver the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street loves.
The Fed began cutting its main interest rate in September to give the economy a boost, but it’s hinted a slowdown in easing is coming. The threat of tariffs from President-elect Donald Trump has raised worries about possible upward pressure on inflation, which has stubbornly remained just above the Fed’s 2% target.
In equities trading early Wednesday, Flutter Entertainment, the owner of sports betting app FanDuel, said a “customer friendly” NFL season continues to cut into its bottom lines and its shares fell 2.3%. Flutter trimmed its fourth-quarter profit forecast and said the NFL season has seen the highest rate of favorites winning in 20 years.
Cal-Maine Foods jumped more than 5% in premarket after the U.S. egg producer easily beat Wall Street's sales and profit targets. Egg prices climbed late last year as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincided with the high demand of the holiday baking season.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX slid 0.3% at midday, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 1.1% and Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6%.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% to 39,981.06. The U.S. dollar was trading at 158.28 yen, up from 158.06.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.9% to 19,279.84 and the Shanghai Composite index was nearly unchanged at 3,230.17. Shares of Tencent fell 2.7%, and shares in CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, dropped 1.7%. Both companies were included in a list released by the U.S. Defense Department linking them to China’s military.
In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.2% to 2,521.05. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8% to 8,349.10.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 31 cents to $74.56 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 22 cents to $77.27 a barrel.
In currency trading, the euro cost $1.0294, down from $1.0341.
Later Wednesday, the Fed releases minutes from its most recent meeting in early December, when it cut its benchmark interest rate for the third time in a row.
Friday will bring an update on the U.S. jobs market, which economists expect will show a slowdown in overall hiring. They’re looking for growth of 156,500 jobs in December, according to FactSet.
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