US pre-open: Stocks seen lower as investors eye speeches from Fed officials
US futures pointed to a softer open on Wall Street as investors continued to mull over President-elect Donald Trump’s press conference a day earlier, ahead of a raft of Fed speeches.
At 1125 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were down 0.3%.
At the same time, oil prices were firmer, with West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude up 0.9% to $52.70 a barrel and $55.58, respectively.
Biotech and pharmaceutical stocks were likely to be in focus again after falling heavily in the previous session as Trump took a swipe at the sector, saying they were “getting away with murder” when it comes to drug prices.
Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, said: “Markets are still reeling from yesterday’s Trump whirlwind speech, which proved well worth the wait after he kept everyone waiting for the longest period, post-election, that any President elect has done. Among the circus of Russian hacking, fake news and alike, the big losers from yesterday’s speech appears to be pharmaceuticals and car makers with Trump expressing the will to bring down drug costs and impose a large border tax on firms moving operations abroad to then sell back into the US.
“Perhaps the biggest loser from yesterday’s speech was the US dollar, which has been slammed throughout the night. The weakness evident in both the dollar and stock markets alike centres on the unwillingness of Trump to discuss in any detail the fiscal stimulus package which has proven the number one driver of optimism throughout markets post-election.”
The dollar was down 0.6% against the pound and the euro and 1% weaker versus the yen.
In corporate news, Delta Air Lines was firmer in pre-market trade ahead of its quarterly earnings release.
Elsewhere, Applied Optoelectronics could be in focus after its shares surged in after-hours trading as its preliminary fourth-quarter results late on Wednesday came in well above prior guidance.
Investors will be turning their attention to a series of Fed speakers later in the session, with speeches due from Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.
Fed chairman Janet Yellen has a town hall meeting with teachers in Washington.
Jamieson Blake, retail sales manager at ADS Securities, said: “Not only will any clues over the pace of rate hikes in 2017 be in focus, but also if we see suggestions as to how policy may need to be adapted to accommodate the new political order then again markets may well end up reading quite a lot into this.”
On the data front, initial jobless claims are at 1330 GMT, along with import and export prices.