Wall Street is down before the opening bell as corporate profits continue to flow in – Chicago Tribune
Wall Street futures fell slightly Tuesday morning as markets digested another full round of corporate earnings in the absence of economic data due to the government shutdown.
S&P 500 futures and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell 0.1% before the bell, while Nasdaq futures fell 0.3%.
Gold continued to fall after its worst day in more than five years, although it came after the precious metal hit record highs throughout the year. Gold futures fell 1.4% on Wednesday morning, following Tuesday’s 5.3% decline. That’s still up about 54% this year.
Netflix skidded 6.4% overnight after the video streamer missed Wall Street’s profit target for the first time in seven quarters. The Los Gatos, Calif., company cited an unexpected $619 million expense related to a tax dispute in Brazil over the shortfall, spooking some investors. Some analysts dismissed the tax issue, saying it was not a concern and that the company’s fundamentals remained strong.
Beyond Meat continued its wild ride higher, climbing another 73% in pre-market trading, to $6.28 per share. That’s after its shares more than doubled in each of the past two days as speculation grew that the meat substitute company had become the latest meme stock.
Part of Beyond’s rise could be due to a recent announcement that Walmart had agreed to expand the company’s product line in nearly half of its U.S. stores. It is also the top holding of the recently launched Roundhill Meme Stock ETF.
Last week, Beyond Meat shares lost nearly three-quarters of their value due to heavy trading volume.
Electric carmaker Tesla reports its latest results after the closing bell on Wednesday.
Investors are relying on company results to provide details on the strength of the U.S. economy, at a time when the U.S. government shutdown has delayed important economic updates. That makes the Federal Reserve’s job more difficult as it tries to decide whether high inflation or a slowing job market is the more important problem for the economy.
Despite the shutdown, the Commerce Department will release its consumer price report on Friday, which could help guide the Fed’s interest rate policy. This will be the first publication of data by the government since the start of confinement on October 1.
In the Asian market, Chinese markets fell after US President Donald Trump raised doubts about meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month.
“Maybe it won’t happen, maybe it won’t happen,” he said at a luncheon for Republican senators at the White House.
However, Trump also said he hoped to “succeed” in negotiations with China.
Trump will travel to Japan and South Korea in the coming days, in part to finalize investment terms for those countries as part of a deal to minimize the tariff rates Trump imposes on foreign goods.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% to 25,781.77, while the Shanghai Composite index fell less than 0.1% to 3,913.76.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fluctuated between slight gains and losses a day after Parliament chose Sanae Takaichi as its first female prime minister.
It closed almost flat at 49,307.79, dragged down by declines in technology companies like SoftBank Group Corp., whose shares fell nearly 5%.
The government said Japanese exports rose 4.2% in September from a year earlier, boosted by robust shipments to Asia that offset a 13% drop in those destined for the United States. Auto shipments fell 24%, hit hard by Trump’s tariff hikes.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 9,030.00, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.6% to 3,883.68.
In Europe at midday, the French CAC 40 fell 0.5%, the German DAX 0.3%.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.6% after data showed UK inflation unexpectedly held steady in the first three quarters of the year. Analysts had been expecting a significant rise, so the stable figure reinforced hopes that inflation has peaked and returned to its target in the coming months.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 96 cents, or 1.7%, to $58.20 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 95 cents to $62.27 a barrel.
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