US Stock Futures Slide on Day Two of Fed Meeting
New York (Jan 27) Stock futures moved lower on Wednesday, pulling back from a rally a day earlier, as investors awaited a statement on interest rates from the Federal Reserve.
S&P 500 futures were down 0.63%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 0.4%, and Nasdaq futures fell 1%.
Fed members will convene on Wednesday morning for day two of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. While no change in policy is expected at this meeting, a statement to be released on Wednesday afternoon will be closely analyzed for clues as to the pace of future rate hikes.
"As we see it, the Federal Reserve will keep rates unchanged at this week's FOMC meeting," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial. "We believe the Fed's communique is likely to be dovish and will include a reassessment of the prospects of inflation."
Crude oil prices fell below $31 a barrel again ahead of weekly inventories data to be released Wednesday. Prices have been under pressure on signs of global oversupply and fears major oil producers including Saudi Arabia won't cut output. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 3.2% to $30.43 a barrel.
Stocks rallied on Tuesday with the Dow enjoying its best day of the year so far. A rebound in crude oil prices and a series of positive earnings reports helped to propel markets higher.
Apple (AAPL - Get Report) shares slid 4% in premarket trading after sales fell for the first time since 2003. The tech giant announced its slowest growth in iPhone shipments on record, while overall sales of $75.9 billion missed forecasts of $76.6 billion. The tech giant earned $3.28 a share, a nickel above estimates.
Apple is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust portfolio.
AT&T (T - Get Report) moved more than 1% lower after a disappointing fourth quarter. Revenue jumped 22% to $42.1 billion after the company closed its deal with DirecTV, though missed estimates by $650 million. The telecom giant earned an adjusted 63 cents a share, in line with forecasts.
VMware (VMW - Get Report) jumped more than 4% after reporting a better-than-expected fourth quarter and plans to lay off 800 employees. The IT services company earned $1.26 a share in its recent quarter, a penny above estimates, while revenue jumped 10% to $1.87 billion.
Biogen (BIIB) added 3% after beating quarterly estimates on its bottom line. The drugmaker earned $4.50 a share in its fourth quarter, well exceeding forecasts of $4.06 a share. Revenue of $2.84 billion came in above expectations of $2.71 billion. Fiscal 2016 guidance came in slightly weaker than expected with a range of $11.1 billion to $11.3 billion nearly coming in short of $11.29 billion consensus.
Biogen is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust portfolio.
Wells Fargo (WFC - Get Report) fell 1% after announcing a quarterly dividend of 37.5 cents a share and boosting its share buyback program by 350 million shares. The bank currently has a buyback program in place of 5.1 billion shares.
Wells Fargo is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust portfolio.
FedEx (FDX - Get Report) climbed more than 1% after authorizing a new share repurchase program worth up to 25 million shares, or around $3 billion at current share prices. Since fiscal 2014, the delivery company has returned nearly $8 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks.
Spource: TheStreet
