FX.co ★ Wall Street Might Open Slightly Down

Prior to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech, early indicators from the U.S. Futures Index hint at a potentially lower opening for Wall Street on Wednesday. Today, investors are keenly observing other Federal Reserve speeches as well as reports on private sector employment and service sector activity.

Asian stocks ended on a notably weak note, while European shares mainly traded on a positive note. Gold prices dipped in the Asian markets following ambiguous comments from two Federal Reserve officials. Meanwhile, crude oil prices continued to climb, fueled by concerns over crude and fuel supplies.

At 7.55 am ET, Dow futures had fallen by 2.00 points, with the S&P 500 futures down by 3.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures sliding 28.00 points. By the end of Tuesday's session, major U.S. averages were in negative territory. The Dow dropped by 396.61 points or 1.0% to 39,170.24, the Nasdaq fell by 156.38 points or 1.0% to 16,240.45, and the S&P 500 slipped by 37.96 points or 0.7% to 5,205.81.

Economic reports due today include the ADP Employment Report for March, estimated to be 150,000, a moderate rise from 140,000 in February. The PMI Composite Final for March is expected to remain steady at 52.2, while the ISM Services Index for March might show a slight increase from 52.6 to 52.7.

The Energy Information Administration’s Petroleum Status report, anticipated at 10.30 am ET, will detail crude oil and gasoline inventories, which increased by 3.2 million and 1.3 million barrels respectively in the previous week.

Powell is slated to discuss the economic outlook at the Stanford Business, Government, and Society Forum at 12.10 pm ET. Fed vice chairs and governors will also be speaking throughout the day.

In Asia, China's Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.18% to 3,069.30 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 1.22% to 16,725.10. In Japan, the Nikkei average and the broader Topix index registered losses of 0.97% and 0.29% respectively. Australian markets similarly ended in the red; the S&P ASX 200 declined by 1.34% to 7,782.50 and the All Ordinaries index slid down 1.38% to 8,033.60.