WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Wall Street may see a reversal sentiment on Wednesday, as earnings, which laid the very foundation for the previous session's rally, has offered some discomfiture. Intel reported disappointing first quarter results and Yahoo's revenue performance was sub par. The lackluster earnings reports should dent investor confidence, which has already been shaky given the uncertain economic fundamentals and the overbought levels of the markets. Given the lack of any major economic catalysts, traders could focus on another batch of bank earnings, spearheaded by Bank of America (BAC).
As of 6:15 pm ET, the Dow futures are moving down 51 points, while the S&P 500 futures are declining 8.30 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 18.25 points.
U.S. stocks rebounded strongly on Tuesday, thanks to encouraging earnings and better than expected economic numbers.
On the economic front, Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein will be on a panel discussing financing regulation at an IMF conference, set to begin at 9 am ET, in Washington. St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard is scheduled to speak to the Levy Institute in New York at 9:30 am ET. Additionally, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren will speak to the Levy Institute in New York at 12 pm ET.
The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release it petroleum inventory report for the week ended April 12th at 10:30 am ET.
The Federal Reserve is due to release its Beige Book report, comprising anecdotal evidence on economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts, at 2 pm ET.
In corporate news, Intel (INTC) reported first results that trailed expectations. For the second quarter, the company expects revenues of $12.9 million, plus or minus $500 million. Additionally, the company targets low single-digit percentage increase in its revenues for 2013. The company trimmed its capital spending plans for 2013.
Yahoo!'s (YHOO) first quarter earnings beat estimates, while its revenues were below estimates. CSX (CSX) reported first quarter results that exceeded estimates. The company said it expects 2013 earnings per share to be flat to down from 2012, while it targets 10-15 percent average annual earnings per share growth through 2015. The company also announced a new $1 billion stock buyback plan and a 7 percent increase in its quarterly dividend.
Linear Technology's (LLTC) third quarter results were ahead of estimates. The company expects 1-4 percent revenue growth for the fourth quarter. Equity Residential (EQR) announced the appointment of David Santee as its COO. Logitech (LOGI) said its SVP and CFO Erik Bardman will leave the company, effective April 26th, to join Roku as its CFO.
American Express (AXP), East West Bancorp (EWBC), eBay (EBAY), Plexus (PLXS), RLI Corp. (RLI), Sallie Mae (SLM), SanDisk (SNDK) and Steel Dynamics (STLD) are among the notable companies due to release their quarterly results after the close of trading.
The major Asian markets closed mostly higher, although the Hong Kong and Chinese markets bucked the uptrend. The positive close on Wall Street overnight provided some buoyancy to the markets.
Japan's Nikkei 225 average opened notably higher and moved roughly sideways till late afternoon trading. Thereafter, the index advanced steadily and consolidated going into the close. The index ended up 161.45 points or 1.22 percent at 13,383. Export stocks sensitive to the yen movement advanced in the session and financial stocks also gained ground, while defensive utility and food stocks declined.
Australia's All Ordinaries also rebounded from a 2-session slump and ended 49.50 points or 1 percent higher at 4,994. Consumer staple, healthcare and financial stocks rose sharply, helping to offset the weakness in the energy and material spaces. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed at 21,581, down 91.12 points or 0.42 percent.
After opening higher, European stocks retreated in early trading and are currently trading moderately to notably lower amid the release of mixed corporate news.
In corporate news, ASML (ASML) reported first quarter earnings of 24 euro cents per share on revenues of 892 million euros. The company also announced that Peter Wennink will be its president and CEO following the expiry of the employment contract with the current CEO Eric Meurice ends on July 1st, 2013. U.K. luxury retailer Burberry reported a 10 percent increase in its fourth quarter group sales. Department store chain Tesco reported a 51.5 percent decline in its full year pre-tax profits to 1.96 billion pounds. The company also said it will exit from its loss making Fresh & Easy business in the U.S. BHP Billiton (BHP) reported a 6 percent increase in third quarter iron ore production.
On the economic front, the minutes of the Bank of England's April monetary policy meeting showed that the monetary policy committee voted unanimously to leave interest rates at a record low of 0.50 percent. Meanwhile, three policymakers, including the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King sought additional quantitative easing as opposed to six others, who felt further easing might exacerbate inflation expectations.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that the number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance fell 7,000 month-over-month to 1.53 million in March. Economists expected a decline of 5,300. The unemployment rate for the three months ended February came in at 4.6 percent compared to expectations of 4.7 percent.
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