U.S. stock index futures were lower on Wednesday after
President Donald Trump's firing of his FBI chief set off a political storm that
could make passage of his pro-
growth plans more difficult.
* The president said he fired James Comey, who had
been leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 campaign's possible collusion
with Russia, over his handling of an email scandal involving then-Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
* Trump's move added a fresh layer to market
uncertainty, which seemed to have eased following Emmanuel Macron's victory in
the French election on Sunday. European shares pulled back from 21-month highs
on Wednesday.
* Demand for safe-haven assets like gold, bonds and
the Japanese yen rose, while the dollar fell.
* Wall Street closed slightly lower on Tuesday after
the S&P hit a record high and the VIX hit a decade low.
* Oil prices climbed on the back of a weaker dollar on
Wednesday.
* Comments from a couple of Federal Reserve officials,
including Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, will be in focus in the
absence of major economic data.
* Snapchat's owner Snap Inc (SNAP.N)
is scheduled to report results for the first time after going public.
* Shares of Nvidia (NVDA.O)
surged 12 percent in premarket trading after the chipmaker reported a
better-than-expected jump in quarterly revenue. Shares of rival AMD (AMD.O)
also rose.
* Allergan (AGN.N)
was off 1.4 percent at $235.07 after the drugmaker recorded a quarterly loss.
* Yelp (YELP.N)
tumbled nearly 27 percent to $25.50 following a quarterly revenue miss and
disappointing forecast.
Futures snapshot at 6:59 a.m. ET:
* Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were down 54 points, or 0.26
percent, with 16,084 contracts changing hands.
* S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were down 4.25 points, or
0.18 percent, with 112,753 contracts traded.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were down 3.75 points, or
0.07 percent, on volume of 17,642 contracts.
* REUTERS*
0 Comments