Ahead of the Bell: Dow futures are trading up 41 points and S&P futures are trading up 3 points. Global shares retreat as Janet Yellen heads to Washington and the crisis in Ukraine worsens. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will provide congressional testimony later today. Yellen is expected to maintain a dovish policy stance, while the central bank continues the pace of its bond-buying program at $10 billion as the economy improves. Also, it is widely expected that the Fed will not raise interest rates anytime soon. According to reports, Ukraine is experiencing its deadliest week since a separatist uprising began in its mainly Russian-speaking eastern region, leaving less room for negotiating a peaceful outcome.
• On the economic calendar today, productivity and costs for the first quarter will be published before the opening bell, it is forecasted to be -1.2% compared with 1.8% for the prior quarter.
• The dollar is up against the Japanese yen and the British pound and down against the euro. Gold is trading at $1,310. Crude oil is currently trading at $100 a barrel.
• Yesterday, stocks fell on dissappointing corporate results from American International Group Inc. while the US trade deficit narrowed as exports grew the most in nine months.
• On CNBC this morning, Jay Jordan, Chairman of the Jordan Companies, talked about the corporate outlook in the markets. Jordan said he is a bear right now. The markets are so robust, particularly in the tech sector. Jordan added, he has been in a number of market cycles and you could make an argument for a bubble building in the markets today. Things are very good across the globe, there is excess liquidity, and we will see a lot of corporate mergers. Now is a great time to sell with where market prices are as he is uncertain when the Federal Reserve will unwind its huge balance sheet
• Have a great day.
Tuesday's Close
DJIA down 129.53 pts/-0.78%/ 16,401.02
S&P down 16.94 pts/-0.90%/ 1,867.72
Nasdaq down 57.30 pts/-1.38%/ 4,080.76
Wednesday's Futures
Dow Futures up 41.00 pts/+0.25%
S&P Futures up 3.25 pts/+0.20%
Nasdaq Futures up 6.75 pts/+0.19%
Overseas Markets
FTSE -0.07%
CAC 40 +0.44%
NIKKEI 225 -2.93%
HANG SENG -1.05%
Overseas: Global stock markets are mixed today. European and Asian markets are lower amid the crisis in Ukraine weighing on financial markets ahead of Fed chair Janet Yellen schedule to appear before Congress.
Economic Reports: Productivity and Costs to be -1.2% at 8:30 a.m.
Top Headlines
• British finance minister George Osborne said the government would support a possible takeover of AstraZeneca (AZN) by Pfizer (PFE), provided such a deal delivered jobs for Britons.
• Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) said it plans to invest more than $1 billion over the next two years to develop and offer cloud-computing products and services.
• Devon Energy Corporation (DVN) said that it acquired 50,000 acres and some production in the Cana-Woodford Shale in Oklahoma for $249 million in cash from Cimarex Energy (XEC).
Commodities/Currency
Gold: up $1.10 to $1,310.30
Oil: up $0.78 to $100.25
EUR/USD 1.3930 +0.0003
USD/JPY 101.6650 -0.0240
GBP/USD 1.6970 -0.0003
Volatility Index (VIX): As of the close of business Tuesday, May 6, 2014 the VIX is up 0.51 at 13.80.
Companies Reporting Quarterly Earnings
• AOL reports Q1 EPS 11c, vs. Est 45c and Q1 revenue $583.3M, vs. Est $577.70M.
• Duke Energy reports Q1 adj EPS $1.17, vs. Est $1.12 and Q1 revenue $6.62B, vs. Est $4.44B.
• Rockwood reports Q1 adj EPS 43c, vs. Est 43c and Q1 revenue $354.5M, vs. Est $355.11M.
Today's Opening and Closing Bells
GasLog Partners LP (GLOP) will visit the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to celebrate their new Listing and CEO of GasLog Ltd. Paul Wogan will ring the Opening Bell.
iShares Enhanced ETFs executives and guests of BlackRock, Inc. (BLK) will visit the New York Stock Exchange and ring the Closing Bell
.
For daily market recaps, check out our End of Day Report every evening!
End of Day Report »
Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some information included above has been aggregated from multiple public third-party financial news sources for informational purposes only and redistributed to the NYSE Euronext community. NYSE Euronext does not control the content provided by these sources and does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such content.
