Yahoo Finance Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Wednesday
Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Wednesday, February 13:
1. Trump Hints at Delaying New Tariffs on China
Markets will be keeping abreast of trade discussions between the U.S. and China to see if any more news materializes amid recent signs the world's two biggest economies are working to resolve their differences.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday. The two are scheduled to hold talks on Thursday and Friday with Vice Premier Liu He, the top economic adviser to Xi.
Washington and Beijing are trying to hammer out a deal ahead of the March 1 deadline, when U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are scheduled to increase to 25% from 10%.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he could be tempted to push back the deadline if the two sides were close a deal.
2. U.S. Futures Point to Higher Open
U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open, as optimism over the U.S.-China trade dispute lifted sentiment.
At 5:45AM ET (10:45 GMT), the blue-chip Dow futures were up 52 points, or about 0.2%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 4 points, or around 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 24 points, or 0.35%.
Elsewhere, European stocks were higher, with most bourses across the region in positive territory.
Earlier, Asian shares closed mostly higher, with stocks in China and Japan leading gains across the region.
Read more: 3 Reasons NIO, 'China's Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA),' Should Be On Your Radar: Jesse Cohen
3. Cisco Highlights Another Busy Day of Earnings
In earnings, most of the focus will be on Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), which reports after the bell. The company is expected to post earnings per share of $0.72 on revenue of $12.41 billion, according to analysts polled by Investing.com.
Other high-profile names releasing quarterly results today include Teva (NYSE:TEVA), AIG (NYSE:AIG), Yelp (NYSE:YELP), Fossil Group (NASDAQ:FOSL), Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), Gannett (NYSE:GCI), Hilton (NYSE:HLT), Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H), DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH), and NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP).
4. U.S. Inflation Data in Focus
On the data front, the Commerce Department will publish January CPI figures at 8:30AM ET (13:30 GMT). Consumer prices are expected to have risen 0.1% last month, according to estimates. On a yearly base, CPI is projected to climb 1.5%.
Excluding the cost of food and fuel, core inflation prices are forecast to have gained 0.2% last month and 2.1% over the prior year.
Speeches from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Philly Fed boss Patrick Harker will also be in focus.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was at 96.60. It hit a 2019 high of 97.00 a day earlier.
In the bond market, U.S. Treasury prices were little changed, with the benchmark 10-year yield at 2.68%, while the yield on U.S. government bonds with 2-year maturities was at 2.51%.
5. EIA's Weekly Oil Supply Report
In commodity markets, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report for the week ended Feb. 8 at 10:30AM ET (15:30 GMT).
Analysts expect the EIA to report a rise of around 2.6 million barrels in crude supplies. If confirmed, it would be the fourth straight weekly build in domestic oil inventories.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 57 cents, or roughly 1%, at $53.67 a barrel.
International Brent crude oil futures were at $63.27 per barrel, up 85 cents, or about 1.3%.
In its closely watched monthly report, the International Energy Agency said the global oil market will struggle this year to absorb fast-growing crude supply from outside OPEC, even with the group's production cuts and U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran.
-- Reuters contributed to this report
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