WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Falling index futures point to a gap down opening for shares on Wall Street on Thursday.
After the sparkling rally that saw the key indices surging impressively on Wednesday, worries about political uncertainty, global growth outlook, the impact of a partial government shutdown and U.S.-China trade disputes have all come to the fore once again, prompting traders to shun riskier assets.
Crude oil futures are trending lower after a sharp uptick on Wednesday. Fears of a fall in energy demand and excess supply in the market notwithstanding the proposed output cut by OPEC and some of its allies from January 2019 contribute to oil's decline.
On Wednesday, the Dow soared 1,086.25 or 5 percent to 22,878.45, the Nasdaq spiked 361.44 points or 5.8 percent to 6,554.36 and the S&P 500 surged up 116.60 points or 5 percent to 2,467.70.
Investors are likely to closely follow the comments by Trump and his council of economic advisers regarding Jerome Powell's tenure as the Fed Chairman and news about the liquidity position in U.S. banking system.
According to reports, Kevin Hasset, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, President Donald Trump won't try to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Hasset reportedly said, 'yes, of course, a hundred percent' on Wednesday after he was asked whether Powell's job is safe. Hassett also said that U.S. banks aren't facing a liquidity crisis.
Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Trump has discussed firing Powell. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin issued a statement saying top U.S. bank executives had assured him they had adequate liquidity to make loans. The remarks, instead of allaying fears about liquidity, raised doubts about the same.
On Wednesday, Trump said that he although he retained confidence in Powell, he was not comfortable with the Fed increasing interest rates too quickly.
In economic releases today, consumer confidence data is due at 10:00 AM ET.
Investors will also be looking ahead to reports on initial jobless claims for the week ended December 22, pending home sales for the month of November, house price index for October, due this week.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2018 AFX News
