Wall Street futures surged higher Wednesday after stronger-than-expected earnings and a robust outlook from Boeing Co. (BA) as investors looked to a return to equity markets following the biggest two-day declines in more than two years.
Early indications from Wall Street futures suggest a modest rebound for markets in the United States following yesterday's slump, which hived more than 360 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Contracts tied to the benchmark were seen more than 230 points higher from their Tuesday close while those tided to the broader S&P 500 were seen 14 points, or 0.4%, to the upside. Nasdaq futures were priced 34.75 points higher.
Boeing, the world's biggest planemaker and the biggest daily influence on the Dow, said it expects to deliver as many as 815 commercial planes this year, up from 763 in 2017, after posting record quarterly earnings per share of $4.80 per share on sales of $25.4 billion. Shares in the group were marked 3.34% higher at $349.00 each.
It's a busy day for corporate reporting may also guide the market's tone, with quarterly figures expected from Dow component Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) , social media giant Facebook Inc. (FB) and telecoms stalwart AT&T Inc. (T) . Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) and Xerox Corp (XRX) are also expected to update on results prior to the opening bell.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares look set to decline for a third consecutive session as the world's biggest tech company continues to suffer from concerns that disappointing sales of its flagship iPhone X device will hit the group's first quarter earnings later this week.
Action Alerts Plus holding Apple is also reportedly in the crosshairs of both the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission over its handling of information related to the slowing of older iPhone models during a comprehensive software update last year. According to a Bloomberg news report, Apple has been asked to provide details regarding the update while officials look into public statements made by the Cupertino, Calif.-based group during the uproar that followed the software release.
Apple shares were marked 0.47% lower in pre-market trading in New York Wednesday, indicating an opening bell price of $166.19 each, a move that would extend the stock's 10-day decline to around 6.5%.
The dollar index, which benchmarks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, however, continued its slide on foreign exchange markets to a fresh three-year low of 88.88 ahead of today's interest rate decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve - the last under the tenure of outgoing chairwoman Janet Yellen. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yields fell modestly to 2.7% while 2-year paper was marked at 2.10%, the highest since 2009.
The Stoxx Europe 600, which represents the broadest gauge of regional share prices, was marked 0.06% to the upside in early trading even as the European single currency held near three-year highs of 1.2444 against the greenback after a mixed reading for Eurozone inflation in January, which showed to 1.3% but topped analysts' forecasts thanks in part to a rise in core consumer prices to an annual rate of 1%. Markets in Germany, France and Italy gained around 0.15% by late morning, powered by cyclical consumer and industrial stocks.
Overnight in Asia, stocks rebounded in the latter half of the session as investors rode a mini wave of optimism from President Donald Trump's State of the Union address to lawmakers in Congress. The region-wide MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was marked 0.39% higher into the close of trading while Japan's Nikkei 225 closed in the red for a sixth consecutive session, falling 0.8% to 23,098.29 points.
Global oil prices were modestly softer, although price movements were complicate by both the dollar's decline and the move towards new "front month" delivery contracts that traders use as the benchmark for pricing in both global and U.S. markets.
Brent crude contracts for April delivery were seen changing hands at $68.08 in early European dealing while WTI contracts for the same month drifted to $64.14 ahead of domestic inventory data from the Energy Information Administration.
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